INSECTS, HARMFUL AND OTHERWISE 223 



settled irregularly on the country, visiting certain regions and 

 leaving others unharmed. They ate the ripening wheat and 

 other grains; they attacked the corn and every other green 

 plant; they congregated in swarms along the roadsides, and 

 clustered thickly on the fences at night or under piles of 

 straw and other litter. In the latter part of the summer, one 

 could dig almost anywhere along the roads in the hard soil 

 and unearth their egg masses, or see the females burrowing 

 the ground to deposit their eggs. After doing much harm 

 the locusts suddenly, and with almost one accord, took to the 

 wing and flew away. So thick were they in the air that on 

 looking up one saw the myriads of locusts Uke flakes in a 

 snowstorm, and the sun was actually dimmed by their great 

 numbers. Soon after news came of great masses of locust 

 bodies having been found in the Atlantic Ocean along the 

 coasts. The farmers fervently hoped they were those of their 

 late enemies. 



Various remedies were used to fight the plague, but most 

 of them were as a drop in the bucket. The insects were 

 crushed on the fences, coaxed into rows of litter which were 

 then burned. The young were collected along the roadsides 

 by pushing a small tar-covered cart about in the grass. The 

 young locusts jumped into the tar and were afterwards 

 burned. Fortunately locusts, Hke other creatures, are subject 

 to natural enemies and diseases. Many kinds of birds eat 

 great numbers of them. Reptiles, frogs and toads, field mice, 

 shrews and moles eat them. There are certain insect 

 parasites that kill or weaken them. On many locusts you may 

 find attached to the wings and other parts of the bodies small 

 red mites. The common hair-worm (hair "snake") is an 

 internal parasite of locusts. Certain fungous diseases affect 



