366 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



It is well known that locusts have been eaten from 

 time immemorial in the East, and hence there was 

 nothing extraordinary in their forming one of the staple 

 resources of John the Baptist in the desert, where there 

 was little else to be got. It is reported that they 

 devoured everything in Utah in 1855 to such an extent 

 that the inhabitants had nothing else to eat but the 

 locusts themselves, and hence it is not surprising that 

 the Americans again tried to utilize them as an article 

 of diet. Another visitation, in 1874-75, also was more 

 serious than had been known for many years. 



Mr. Riley, the State Entomologist of Missouri, to whose 

 writings I am indebted for most of my information, stated 

 at a late meeting of the Entomological Society of Lon- 

 don that a very good and nourishing soup was made of 

 the locusts. He had some baked locusts with him, which 

 he distributed to the members present, but he did not 

 recommend them when cooked in that manner. They 

 were not much relished in London, being compared by 

 those who tasted them to burnt mutton fat and other 

 unsavoury aliments. The common migratory locust is 

 said to taste like stale shrimps. But although they are 

 not likely to form a favourite article of food in civilised 

 countries, yet I think that American ingenuity may find 

 some other means of utilising these pests, and I would 

 suggest that cockchafers are sometimes used in Germany 

 to make an oil which can be applied to various common 

 purposes. 



By the Indian tribes of California grasshoppers are 

 caught in great numbers. When the insect attains its 

 best condition, the Indians select some favourable locality 

 and dig several little pits, in shape somewhat like in- 

 verted funnels, the aperture being narrower at the sur- 

 face than at the base, the object being to prevent the 

 insect which chances to tumble in from hopping out again. 

 The pits being ready, an immense circle is formed, the 

 surrounding grass is set on fire, and the Indians, men, 

 "women, and children, station themselves at proper in- 

 tervals around the fiery belt, keeping up a continual 



