168 
ORTHOPTERA. 
the later accounts, that contained in Olivier’s “ Travels ” 
does not seem to have been quoted by English writers. The 
following is a free translation of the passage. Olivier, at the 
time of writing it, was in Syria. “ After a burning south 
wind had prevailed for some time, there came, from the 
interior of Arabia and from the southern parts of Persia, 
clouds of locusts, whose ravages in these countries are as 
grievous and as sudden as the destruction occasioned in 
Europe by the most severe hail-storm. Of these my com- 
panion, M. Brugieres, and myself were twice witnesses. It 
is difficult to describe tbe effect produced on us by the sight 
of the whole atmosphere filled, on all sides, to a vast height, 
with a countless multitude of these insects, which flew along 
with a slow and even motion, and with a noise like the dash- 
ing of a shower of rain. The heavens were darkened by 
them, and the light of the sun was sensibly diminished. In 
a moment the roofs of the houses, the streets, and all the 
fields were completely covered with these insects, and in two 
days they almost entirely devoured the foliage of every plant. 
Fortunately, however, they continued but a short time, and 
seemed to have emigrated only for the purpose of providing 
for a continuation of their kind. In fact, nearly all of them 
which we saw on the next day were paired, and in a day or 
two afterwards the ground was covered with their dead 
bodies.” * These were not the still more celebrated and 
destructive migratory locusts ( Locusta migratoria ), but con- 
sisted of the species called Acrydium peregrinum. 
Although the ravages of locusts in America are not fol- 
lowed by such serious consequences as in the Eastern con- 
tinent, yet they are sufficiently formidable to have attracted 
attention, and not unfrequently have these insects laid waste 
considerable tracts, and occasioned no little loss to the cul- 
tivator of the soil. Our salt-marshes, which are accounted 
among the most productive and valuable of our natural 
meadows, are frequented by great numbers of the small red- 
* Olivier, Voyage dans i'Empire Ottoman, l’Egypte et la Perse, Tom. II. p. 424. 
