144 HEMIPTERA. 
ground is so completely covered, that even 
your little foot could not take a single 
step without crushing a considerable 
number. 
Lucy. Are they like our grasshop- 
pers ? 
Mother. In form they are, but much 
larger ; there is a great variety also in 
their colours ; some are of a dull yellow, 
spotted with black ; some are gieen ; and 
others are rose coloured, with black 
specks. 
When they settle on the ground they 
rapidly devour every particle of herbage, 
com, shrubs, trees, and even poisonous 
plants : the devastation is complete, and 
the effects are most calamitous, for a 
famine is the inevitable consequence. In 
Turkey, they are frequently the forerun- 
ners of the plague. 
Yet in Arabia, and in many parts of 
Africa, the poorer classes of inhabitants 
hail the time of their coming as a sea- 
son of abundance, and esteem them as 
delicious food. Thus you see, my dear 
Lucy, how the ravages of these destruc- 
