Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Entomology.djvu/262

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256
SYSTEMATIC ARRANGEMENT.

well known that in most of the countries where they occur they are more or less used as food, and this practice was probably even more common in ancient times than at present. The mode of preparing them varies in different places. The Bedouins of Egypt roast them alive upon the coals; in addition to this the Arabs steep them in butter. The inhabitants of Morocco dry them on the roofs and terraces of their houses, and eat them either smoked or broiled, and esteem them so highly that the price of provision falls when the locusts visit the neighbourhood. The Hottentots, as well as many Arabian tribes, dry them, and grind them into a kind of flour of which they make bread. In consequence of their being used for these purposes, the markets and shops in many places are supplied with them, and they are sold at a low rate. They are also used by the Hottentots to feed fowls, which eat them with avidity. The Calmucks feed sheep, antelopes, and other animals with them; and when swarms are drowned in the Volga and cast on shore, hogs eat them eagerly and become unusually fat on the diet.


LOCUSTA MIGRATORIA.

Plate XV. Fig. 1.

Gryllus Migratorius Linn. Fabr.—Roesel's Insects, ii. Gryll. xxiv.—De Geer, iii. p. 466, Pl. 23. f. 1.

This species occasionally attains the length of two inches and a half; the thorax is slightly ridged, and faintly marked with a transverse line, the colour greenish or dull-red, with a longitudinal black spot on each side; tegmina brown, with darker spots;