ay employing itself in
catching flies and locusts, which it strikes with its fore paw, as a cat
strikes a bird or a mouse.

Among insects, travellers chiefly notice the mosquito, which is in many
places a cruel torment; the centipede, which grows to an unusual size;
the locust, of which there is more than one variety; and the scorpion,
whose sting is sometimes fatal.

The destructive locust (the _Acridium peregrinum_, probably) comes
suddenly into Kurdistan and southern Media in clouds that obscure the
air, moving with a slow and steady flight and with a sound like that
of heavy rain, and settling in myriads on the fields, the gardens, the
trees, the terraces of the houses, and even the streets, which they
sometimes cover completely. Where they fall, vegetation presently
disappears; the leaves, and even the stems of the plants, are devoured;
the labors of the husbandman through many a weary month perish in a day;
and the curse of famine is brought upon the land which but now enjoyed
the prospect of an abundant harvest. It is true that the devourers are
themselves devoured to some extent by the poorer sort of people; but the
compensation is slight and temporary; in a few days, when all verdure is
gone, either the swarms move to fresh pastures, or they perish and cover
the fields with their dead bodies, while the desolation which they have
created continues. [PLATE III., Fig. 2.]

[Illustration: PLATE III.]

Another kind of locust, observed by Mr. Rich in Kurdistan, is called by
the natives _shira-kulla_, a name seemingly identical with the
_chargol_ of the Jews, and perhaps the best clue which we possess to
the identification of that species. Mr. Rich describes it as "a large
insect, about four inches long, with no wings, but a kind of sword
projecting from the tail. It bites," he says, "pretty severely, but
does no harm to the cultivation." We may recognize in this description
a variety of the great green grasshopper (_Locusta viridissima_), many
species of which are destitute of wings, or have wing-covers only, and
those of a very small size.

The scorpion of the country (_Scorpio crassicauda_) has been represented
as peculiarly venomous, more especially that which abounds in the city
and neighborhood of Kashan; but the most judicious observers deny that
there is any difference between the Kashan scorpion and that of other
parts of the plateau, while at the same time they maintain that if the
sting be properly tr