88 



The Rocky Mountain Locust. 



been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even 

 to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth 

 before them ; and behind them a flame burneth ; the 

 land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind 

 them a desolate wilderness ; yea, and nothing shall escape 

 them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of 

 horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise 

 of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like 

 the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as 

 a strong people set in battle array. Before their face the 

 people shall be much pained : all faces shall gather black- 

 ness. They shall run like mighty men ; they shall climb 

 the wall like men of war ; and they shall march every 

 one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks. 

 * * * They shall run to and fro in the city ; they 

 shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the 

 houses ; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief." 



Those who suffered from and witnessed the vast army 

 that cast a blight over so large a portion of our Western 

 country in 1874 and 1876 ; or who passed by rail, during 

 the better part of two days, through a perfect storm of 

 these insects, which frequently impeded or stopped the 

 train by their crushed bodies reducing the traction — will 

 concede that Joel's picture is not overdrawn, and that, 

 though written over 2,500 years ago, it might have been 

 inspired from many parts of North America in the years 

 named, 



THE MIGRATORY INSTINCT AND GREAT DESTRUCTIVE POWER 

 BELONG TO BUT ONE SPECIES WEST OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 



Being anxious to ascertain whether the injuries reported 

 in the different parts of the country between the Missis- 

 sippi and the Rocky Mountains were all caused by one 

 species, or whether others joined their forces in devastat- 



