LOCUST. 
317 
the size of the common species, they afford but a 
small share of nourishment, especially the males, 
who want the magazine of eggs which contribute to 
make the females more nutritious. This kind of 
food has been eaten in those countries where the 
insects are plentiful, from the earliest period to the 
present day, and they either eat them fresh, broiled 
on the coals, or pickle them for keeping, in which 
last state they are generally brought to market. It 
has been supposed by some commentators, that- 
the passage in the Holy Scriptures, in which St. 
John the Baptist is said to have fed on locusts and 
wild honey, is not properly translated, and that the 
word which we understand to mean locusts should 
be rendered the young shoots of vegetables. But 
this interpretation is totally unnecessary, since we 
have seen that these insects are really used as food 
in the eastern parts of the world at the present 
time. Hasselquist remarks, that they who deny 
these insects to have been the food of this holy 
man, would soon be convinced of the contrary if 
they would travel through Egypt, Arabia, or Syria, 
and take a meal with the Arabs. Roasted locusts 
are eaten by these people, at the proper season, 
whenever they can procure them. 
