230 



HARBWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



at the ordinary period, they should be preserved from 

 the commencement in a temperature between fifteen 

 and twenty degrees Centigrade, exposed to the cold 

 for fifteen days, about three months before the time 

 required for hatching, and then treated as ordinarily. 

 2. To have the eggs hatched before the ordinary 

 period, twenty days after they have been dropped 

 they should be exposed to the cold for two months, 

 and then removed six weeks, afterwards they will be 

 found in the same condition as normal seed, and can 

 be treated in the same manner. The eggs in com- 

 merce bear the names of grain or seed. 



The larva and nymphae of ants are good food for 

 poultry, and an old woman of Paris derived a good 

 income for half a century from supplying the Jardin 

 d'Acclimatation with these eggs for pheasants. These 

 she collected in the woods around Paris, though 

 almost devoured by the ants ; but of their attacks 

 she took little notice. Her harvest-time, of which 

 she had a monopoly, lasted from June to the end of 

 September. Ants' eggs are considered by many 

 people a choice relish spread on bread-and-butter, 

 and are excellent curried. They are eaten in Siam, 

 forming an esteemed article of food, but being costly, 

 are only obtainable by the rich. 



Ants'-brood are subject to an import duty in some 

 of the northern countries of Europe, especially in 

 Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. In those states 

 they are steeped in boiling water, and a kind of 

 vinegar, or formic acid, is obtained. The eggs 

 obtained in Mexico from three species of hemipterous 

 insects, belonging to the group of aquatic beetles, 

 are eaten. 



These eggs are made into a sort of bread or cake, 

 called "Hantle," consumed by the people, and it 

 forms an article of commerce in the markets. In the 

 fresh waters of the lagoons, bundles of reeds or rushes 

 are laid, on which the insects (Corixa femoralc and 

 C. muanaria, Geoffroy, and Noctonecta Americana) 

 deposit their eggs. The bundles of rushes are then 

 withdrawn, dried and beaten over cloths, to detach 

 the myriads of eggs. These are cleansed, sifted, put 

 into ;-acks, and sold like flour, to form cakes, which 

 are excellent eating, but have a fishy and slightly 

 acid flavour. The eggs of another species, Corixa 

 aculenta, having the appearance of manna, are eaten 

 in Egypt. 



The eggs of insects vary much in size and shape, 

 but the round and oval are the most common 

 form. 



It is believed that there are five times as many 

 kinds of insects as there are species of all other living 

 things put together. The oak alone gives shelter and 

 support to 450 species of insects, and 200 kinds make 

 their home in pine-trees. Forty years ago Humboldt 

 estimated that the number of species preserved in 

 collections was between 150,000 and 170,000, but 

 scientific men now say, that there must be more than 

 three-quarters of a million, without taking into 



account the parasite creatures. Of the 35,000 species 

 in Europe, however, there are not more than 3500 

 which are noxious or destructive. There are more 

 than 100,000 beetles. 



The eggs of many depredating insects are ruth- 

 lessly destroyed ; among these especially come those 

 of the locust tribe. 



The grasshorpers, as they are called in North 

 America, commit great devastation. According to 

 one calculation, these insects lay2Sl6 million eggs per 

 acre. This may be a greatly exaggerated estimate, 

 but after every deduction is made, enough remains 

 for serious alarm. The Cicada, or so-called locusts of 

 America, make their periodical appearance, according 

 to some, every seven, fourteen or seventeen years. 

 They lay their eggs in May, and these are hatched in 

 August. They are furnished with a boring-tube or 

 ovipositor, about half an inch long, having joined to 

 it on each side, a tolerably fair specimen of a saw. 

 There are a great variety of species of these locusts : 

 among others, Acridium shoetonevxift. A. A/nericannm, 

 Dipostura longipennes, and D. spurcata ; the lesser 

 migratory locust (Caloptences Atlantes), the detest- 

 able locust (C. fcedus) two-striped locust (C. bivit- 

 tatus), .large yellow locust [C. differentia/is), devas- 

 tating locust (C devastator), Rocky Mountain locust 

 (C. spretus), and winged locust {CEdipodavenusta, and 

 CE. phancecoptera). 



The egg masses contain from 30 to 150 in different 

 species. In America grasshopper clubs are estab- 

 lished, the members of which are pledged to destroy 

 the eggs by deep ploughing, and the young grass- 

 hoppers by increasing the number of poultry kept, by 

 preserving wild birds, and others means. Five dollars 

 a bushel are given for their eggs. Guatemala, Costa 

 Rica, and other parts of Central America have been 

 occasionally visited by these plagues. About 1500 of 

 their eggs weigh a pound. 



On the coasts of the Mediterranean, Morocco, 

 Algeria, Jaffa, etc., the locusts often appear in con- 

 siderable numbers ; millions of them may be seen 

 covering the ground for miles, inches thick. The 

 Arabs and peasants, on view of their approaching 

 mischief, go through the land in thousands, digging 

 for their eggs, and destroying incredible numbers 

 with fire and water. In the subdivision? of Con- 

 stantine, Setif, and Batna, Algeria, there were 

 collected a few years ago, 14,000 bushels of locust 

 eggs. 



There are three or four very destructive and 

 migratory species of locusts in Europe and Asia. 

 There are also several other species which sometimes 

 become very destructive, and still more rarely migrate 

 from place to place, in the United States. But the 

 Rocky Mountain locust is essentially the migratory 

 and destructive species of North America, as none 

 other compares with it in the vastness of its move- 

 ments, or the injury which it inflicts. The value of 

 the vegetation destroyed in 1S74, in the State of Iowa, 



