THE LOCUSTS OF THE OLD WORLD. 477 



specimens of the insect and a number of earthern egg-cases, each con- 

 taining from thirty to forty eggs. The dispatch stated that the official 

 report showing the progress of the plague and the steps taken to exter- 

 minate the insect had not yet been published, but a copy would be sent 

 the society in a few weeks. It w^as said that the damage done by the 

 locusts this year was considerably less than that of last year, owing to 

 the number of soldiers which the government had been able to employ 

 since the war was over to assist the inhabitants of the district where 

 the plague existed in destroying the insects. The insects sent were 

 stated to be specimens of Locusta migratoria, but on examination they 

 were found to be the Locusta albifrons, Fabr. {Decticits albifrons, Sa- 

 vigny). — [Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London^ 1876, p. 

 xxi. August 2, 1876. 



In China records exist of the appearance of locusts in devastating 

 numbers one hundred and seventy-three times during a period of nine- 

 teen hundred and twenty-four years, as stated by Andreozzi, who has 

 translated, from a Chinese work on agriculture, notes respecting the 

 ravages of locusts in China, and the superstitions existing among the 

 Chinese with regard to their origin. The three great causes of famine 

 in China are placed as flood, drought, and locusts. 



In 1876, Col.Prejvalsky states that sw^arms of locusts were seen at"> 

 an elevation of 9,000 feet in the Altyn-Tag range, in Central Asia. — [Geo- 

 grapMcal Magazine, May, 1878. 



In Southern Australia locusts of an unknown species committed rav- 

 ages in 1872. — [See Proceedings of the Entomological Society of London^ 

 1872, pp. xii and xvii. 



Swarms of locusts have appeared in several of the Philippine Islands, 

 and have caused immense damage in the plantations. Public prayers 

 were offered up, and the common people employed in the fields in 

 collecting and destroying them, the authorities paying so much for 

 every basketful presented to the alcaldes. It does not appear that the 

 natives of the Philippine Islands eat the locusts, as the Eiff Arabs do. 

 The latter, when they see a cloud of locusts hovering in the air and 

 clouding the sky, watch them anxiously, and if they descend near their 

 adwars, receive them with shouts of gratitude to God and Mahomet, 

 throw themselves on the ground and collect them as fast as possible. 

 Previously deprived of their heads, legs, and wings, the locusts, well 

 boiled in butter and served up with alciizcuz, are considered by the Riff 

 Arabs a delicious food. Their camels eat them greedily. ^"^ 



w Eeceived from the Smithsonian Institution. 



