Wb now pass to the true Locusts, of which we shall take one sh^’!, *10 ? comparatively orL and the female is without the sword-like ovipositor. On T ° shown the well-known Mihratoiit Locust (Pachytylus ■mgratmus). The name Pachytvhis is r’- and the oTerTknol fitt oft f , “ o' the thick So 13 rather projecting, and very hard and (E'lipoda, or Swollen Leg ^n ac“out tTl Xf thighs of thetind

atMwt ;rjc“ Tt"’ simply spotted with dark brown. The win^Le v ''t** shining, and have a slight green tinge T1 7 “ *o™ inThetZ: trat Sot on.^ The thorax is covered with fine down

has never fairly acclimatised itself During the war paragraphs are plentiful, annouZrthe cZtZZtT Locust, and describing it, dimensions. Ma'ny of Ise Insect

are not Locusts at all, the word Locust being applied however, parts of England to any large caterpillar or grub. in various being aware of this fact, tried to verify tlie Mr. E. Newman, and succeeded in six cases, three oi ‘ Locust of the newspapers, out to be caterpillars of the Death’s-head iNIoth, which turned in its perfect state ; and the other two one the same insect Hawk-moth. In were specimens of the common Humming-bird I have gained no reply whatever, the writers all other instances omniscience as to being so confident of their entomological resent the idea of identification being needful.’ the Migratory Locust is one

In hotter countries, however, that can pass over a land. The of the most dread plagues and, as they fiy on their insects swarm in countless myriads, the air like black clouds Like clouds course, they darken of the wind, for they have little also they follow the course and aie earned along as the power of guiding their flight, hut a change of wind seems Ld happens to Mow. Nothing their progress, for they to have the least effect in cheeking that the art of man care nothing for every obstacle sLm to even fir e can do nothing to stop or can place in their path ; and have been fired Vast ranges of brushwood divert them. sight, but the nsects were swept soon as the Locusts were in hundreds of tho by the wind ; and though whistUng along the survivors continued their pfrisbed* in the flames, sands passed on, its numbeis eom-se, and the Locust army onward of the Locust have been Tvt TuTu^r^vages rewards have been offered • and in the South of France terrible

Tou^tfS^ect i^s. Une coiumu ux almost exceed beliet. nrTums miles in length, and i\as A loot! than five hundred the earth to such as it passed along, it darkened scarcely be seen ac 4. f that larwe buildings could This swarm occurred hundred yards. r thXo

:it:r!f account given by d-f er and fl^t^

“^htrt is a powerful effects produced by a swarm

by • 1 -a 4 Thalaba ’ of the

Southey in his Thalab , the empire of Morocco ‘In lu8, the empire

of Locusts in Morocco.

•was ravaged by these insects. In the summer of that year such clouds of Locusts came from the south that they darkened the air and devoured a part of the harvest. Their offspring committed still greater mischief. Locusts appeared and bred anew in the following year, so that in the spring the ground was wholly covered, and they crawled one over the other in search of their subsistence.

‘ The whole country was eaten up : the very bark of the fig, pomegranate, and orange-tree-^ — bitter, hard, and corrosive as it was — could not escape the voracity of these insects. The lands, ravaged throughout all the western provinces, produced no harvest ; and the Moors, being obliged to live on their stores, began to feel a dearth. Their cattle died with huUger ; nor could any be preserved but those which were in the neighbourhood of mountains or in marshy grounds, where the regrowth of pasturage is more rapid.

‘In 1780, the distress was still further increased. The dry winter had checked the products of the earth, and given birth to a new generation of Locusts, who devoured whatever had escaped from the inclemency of the season. The husbandman did not even reap what he had sowed, and found himself destitute of food, cattle, or seed corn. In this time of extreme wretchedness, the poor felt all the horrors of famine. They were seen wandering over the country to dig roots, and perhaps, abridged their days by digging into the entrails of the earth in search of the crude means by which they miffht

preserved. be

‘ Vast numbers perished of indigestible food and want. I T . . in the streets, who had died of hunger, and who were thrown across asses to be taken and buried. The husband, with the consent of his Wife, would take her into another province, there to bestow her in marriap, as if she were his sister, and afterwards come and reclaim her when his wants were not so great. I have seen women and children run after camels, and rake their dung, to seek for some undigested grain of barley, If they found, they which. devoured with avidity.’

The writer also mentions the mode in which the youuff Locusts were destroyed in one province. A vast trench wa! dug, more than three miles in length, and extending from the

•sea to a river. The miniature Locusts, which were unable to iiy, their wings not being as yet developed, were driven into the ditch, whence they were, unahle to escape. In this way the district was cleared of the Locusts ; but their numbers were so vast that, on the third day after they were driven into bodies infected the air, so that no the ditch, their putrefying approach the trench. The reader will doubtless one could have noticed how similar is this account to the many Scriptural references to the Locust and its numbers. In Southern Africa, the young Locusts are called Voet-gangers, or Foot-goers, and

even more dreaded by the agriculturist than the mature are insects. • _ one redeeming point about the Locusts.

There is certainly the grass-blades, and the very They eat the leaves, the flowers, themselves. I never had twigs ; but, then, they can be eaten a Locust, but I -know several trathe opportunity of tasting vellers who have done so ; and they all agree in saying that the dry, is rather palatable than otherwise, and insect, though run short, the Locusts form an that, when the provisions the commissariat. I think, however, acceptable addition to is mentioned is caused by the roughthat the dryness which cooking which is adopted by travellers and-ready style of and that if the insects were better under such circumstances, they would be better flavorued. cooked sculptures in the

I am led to this beUef by the Nineveh them represents a train of servants Museum. One of British meats to a great feast. Among them there carrying various long sticks, on which are tied are Lveral men, who are bearing tied on a stick or omons on a Locusts, just as cherries are in this case the Locust is not looked strine. It is evident that for better food, but as being a upon merely as a succedaneum of a place at a pubhc feast, an delicacy which was worthy was borne aloft by bearded attendants. which is most common in these

Although this is the species equally deserve the name armies, several other species Locust destructive to the herbage. and are equally of Migratory, . without mentioning that

I cfnnot leave the Orthoptera an , i of its members is very unsatisfactory, arrangement of several able entomologists, much

spite of the exertions

remains to be done. No common arrangement has as yet been accepted, and the consequence is that scarcely any two books, or two cabinets, employ the same system, to the very great confusion of the beginner in entomology. Still, the broad distinctions which have been given in the preceding pages are simple and intelligible, and, by their means, the various Oithopteran insects of England can be grouped without difficulty. much

Thysanoptera.

Thysanoptbea.

CHAPTER I.

The little creatures which will be briefly described in these pages are now ascertained to belong to a separate order, which has been named Thysanopteea, on account of the cm-ious structure of their wings. This name is derived from two Greek words— one signifying a tassel, and the other a wing— and has been given to the insects of this order because their wings are furnished on the edges with a fringe of long hairs. These wings are long, narrow, and are not folded, but he flat along the back, and slightly crossed over each other. There is no distinction between wings and elytra, and in most of the species the hairy fringe is more than twice as wide as the wing which it surrounds. In some species the wings are long, but in some they are short, while in others they are practically absent, being only represented by the undeveloped

One of these insects, PUaiothrips coriaeea, is shown in Woodcut XXVII. Fig. T, and is a good example of the order As may be seen by the line on its left side, it is a very tiny insect, about the twelfth or fourteenth of an inch in length and yet it is larger than many of the same curious grip’ Owing to their small size, it is not very easy to make out theii tructme, but the reader should try, with the aid of the microscope, to examine the head and the parts of the mouth, which are very remarkable ; and, though formed of mandibles and palpi, are umted into a sort of conical the breast when the insect sucker, which Hes under is still. are^e* ” 1 “ prooming specimens, as the insects are exceedingly plentiful-much too plentiful indeedllnd

may be seen in swarms upon flowers and various plants, especially infesting those of the greenhouse, where they become an pest, particularly if the gardener be careless about his absolute They collect in great numbers on the underside of plants. the leaves, the chief part of the damage being done by the larvae, which mark the leaves with little decayed patches. Stone fruits of various kinds are also much damaged by them, making their way into the ripe fruit at the the little creatures stalk, and then crawling in — much as do the ants base of the between the stone and the soft substance of the fruit.

There are many species of these insects, which popularly go the collective name of Thrips, but the distinctions are under and minute for any but a purely scientific work. too many position of the order is still a mooted point among The exact as these insects resemble the Orthoptera and entomologists, while the structure of the Hemiptera in their transformations, unlike that of either of these orders. Van der mouth is quite scarcely to think that the Thysanoptera con- Hoeven seems and considers them as an appendix to stitute a separate order, the Orthoptera.

Neijeopteea.

Neuboptbea.

CHAPTER I.

The important order of insects which comes next on our list is a very remarkable one. The name Heuroptera is formed from two Grreek words, the one signifying a nerve, and the other a wing, and has been given to these insects because the transparent wings are traversed by a vast quantity of nervures, which^ divide the wings into a greater number of spaces or ‘ cells ’ than is the case with any other order of insects. Both pairs of wings are of equal size and of equal solidity. The larva has always six legs, and the pupa is and sometimes active. sometimes quiescent

The Heuropterous insects fall naturally into several groups the characteristics of which are so strongly marked that they are well known by popular names, such as Stone-flies, Dragonflies, Lace-wing-flies, and the Hke. There are not inanv species inhabiting England, but the insects are mostly plentiful and are sufficiently large and tne handsome to constitute much of

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