Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1885-05-15
LOCI SIS.

From our earliest years We have all
been familiar with Eastern tales IN
which the locust figures AS the destroy
ing angel; the overwhelming invading
army which advances with Irresistible
might. with sound like the noise OF
chariots on the mOuntains-llke the
noise of flame Of fire that devoureth
the stubble." Onward they march in
dense columns, ravaging whole prov
inces, as in the days when the Hebrew
prophet described their withering adj
vance. "a fire deyoureth before them,
and behind them flame burneth. The
land is as the garden Of Eden before
them, and behind them a desolate will
derness; yea, nothing shall escape
them"
As, in these days of old, the Syrian
locusts "rsn upon the wall, climbed up
upon the houses, and entered in at the
windows like thief" so, in later days,
travellers in Northern Africa have wit
messed locust-swarms which they COM
pare to clouds of dense smoke, darken-
ing the sun so that its brightest rays
could cast no shadow, and which, alisht-
ing on some green crop, have devoured
every blade in the field, and, marching
onwards, have climbed trees, walls and
houses, seeking what they might de-
YOUR, and sometimes consuming the
very bark OF trees and shrubs.
Nor has Europe been exempt. From
time to time the great army Of locusts
has appeared in one country or another
in such appalling force as to render the
visitation an historical calamity. Such
was the plague of lOcusts which APP
peared in Russia in the year 1850, and
thence overspread Poland and Lithuania
i'm multitudes so incalculable that the
damage sustained by these countries was
beyond reckoning; the surface of the
country seemed as if covered with
black cloth; the very trees bent beneath
their weight; and when at length the
locusts had lived their little span, the
earth was in many places covered to
the depth of four feet with their corpses.
/ Even i'm the south of France, rewards
are occasionally offered for the colIec-
ton of locusts' eggs, while the live in
sec,s are caught wholesale by sweeping
the ground with s;out cloths, so collect
ing them in sacks for destruction.
Happily their foes are many. Frogs,
lizards and serpents, owls, eagles, buz-
yards, bustard>, hawks, ravens, desert
| larks. wheat-ears and other carnivOrous
and insectivorous birds do their best to
diminish the locustS, but with small re-
suits. In Smyrna and other parts OF
| Asia Minor the russet-starling seems
possessed with an Unsuitable desire to
| kill locu.ts, not for fooG, but for sheer
sport. 1t goes on killing till lis beak
becomes so cloggcd with locust juice
tha, it has to fly TO the nearest water to
wash, and then returns To- the fray with
renewed vigor. Another deadly foe is
the grub of the bee-fly, (BomJyHdR),
which feeds on the locusts' eggs; and
there is also parasite which attacks
the living insect.
Lady Anne Blunt tells Us how in
/ Northern Arabia she rode through
/ focks Of ravens aud buzzards sitting on
/ the ground gorged with locusts. The
camels munchcd them u2 with their
proyender. Her greyhoGnds ran snap
ping after them all day long, eating a.
many as they could catch; aud, on ex-
aiming the stomach Of a hyena shot by
her husband, ii was found to be full Of
locusts and gazellc. She says the Be-
/ douns often give then! 10 their horses,
and at the time of her visit to Arabia
many tribes had no food whatever but
locusts and camel. milk.
Lady Anne mentions them rs being a
regular portion of the days provision
in camp. When first she tasted them,
in December, she pronounced them
fairly good, but by February she had
decided that they were an excellent ar
title Of diet, the red locusts being better
eating than the green ones. She was
uncertain whether the red are the fe-
males and the green the males, or
whether all were At first green, and be-
came red as they advanced in age. 1t
seems probable, however, that she is
describing swAdistinct varieties, known
in Cyprus as The large green Houehos
and the still larger light-brown Scarnos.
Their flavor is more like that of green
wheat than Of either fish or flesh, and
in the daily rations they were consider
ed in measure to take the place OF
vegetables. after trying various meth
DDS OF cooking it was voted that they
were best when plain boiled; their long
legs were then pulled off, and they were
held by the wings, dipped into salt, and
so eaten with much relish. They are
large, handsome insects, very like grass
hoppers, but three inches in length, or