258. The LOCUST (Gryllus migratorius) is an insect, not much unlike our large grasshoppers, which is too common in most of the eastern countries.
It is about two inches and a half in length, has a brownish body varied with darker spots, blue legs and jaws, the hind thighs yellowish, and the wings of yellowish brown colour spotted with black.
We are informed, in the New Testament, that the food of John the Baptist in the wilderness was "locusts and wild honey." Some of the commentators have imagined the locusts here mentioned to have been a vegetable production—a species of pulse; but this opinion will scarcely be admitted when it is known that the insects of this name, even at the present day, serve as food to many of the eastern tribes. The Ethiopians and Parthians are recorded, from the earliest periods of antiquity, to have occasionally subsisted on this species of food. And the traveller Hasselquist, in reply to some inquiries which he made on this subject, was informed that, at Mecca, when there was a scarcity of grain, the inhabitants, as a substitute for flour, would grind locusts in their hand-mills, or pound them in stone mortars: that they mixed the substance thus formed with water, and made cakes of it; and that they baked these cakes, like their other bread. He adds, that it was not unusual for them to eat locusts when there was no famine; but that, in this case, they boiled them first in water, and afterwards stewed them with butter into a kind of fricasee. The Hottentots delight in locusts as food, and even make their eggs into a kind of soup. Some of the African tribes pound and boil these insects with milk; and others eat them, after being merely broiled for a little while on the coals. Mr. Jackson says that, when he was in Barbary, in 1799, dishes of locusts were frequently served at the principal tables, and were esteemed a great delicacy. These insects are preferred by the Moors to pigeons; and it is stated that a person may eat 200 or 300 of them without experiencing any ill effects.
259. LAC is a resinous substance, the production of an hemipterous insect (Coccus ficus), which is found on three or four different kinds of trees in the East Indies.
The head and trunk of the lac insect seem to form one uniform, oval, and compressed red body, about the size of a flea. The antennæ are thread-shaped, and half the length of the body. The tail is a little white point, whence proceed two horizontal hairs as long as the body.
These insects pierce the small branches of the trees on which they feed; and the juice that exudes from the wounds is formed by them into a kind of cell, or nidus for their eggs. Lac is imported, into this country, adhering to the branches, in small transparent grains, or in semi-transparent flat cakes. Of these the first is called stick lac, the second seed lac, and the third shell lac.
On breaking a piece of stick lac it appears to be composed of regular honeycomb-like cells, with small red bodies lodged in them; these are the young insects, and to them the lac owes its tincture; for, when freed from them, its colour is very faint. Seed lac is the same substance grossly pounded and deprived of its colouring matter, which is used in dyeing, and for other purposes; and shell lac consists of the cells liquefied, stained, and formed into thin cakes.
This substance is principally found upon trees in the uncultivated mountains on both sides of the river Ganges; and it occurs in such abundance, that, were the consumption ten times greater than it is, the markets might readily be supplied. The only trouble which attends the procuring of it is to break down the branches of the trees and carry them to market.
The uses of lac, in its different states, are various. It is employed in the East Indies for making rings, beads, chains, necklaces, and other ornaments for female attire. Mixed with sand, it is formed into grind-stones; and added to lamp-black or ivory-black, being first dissolved in water with the addition of a little borax, it composes an ink, which, when dry, is not easily acted upon by moisture. A red liquor obtained from lac is employed as a substitute for cochineal ([260]) in dyeing scarlet, and in painting. Shell lac is chiefly adopted in the composition of varnish, japan, and sealing-wax. A tincture prepared from lac is sometimes used in medicine.
260. COCHINEAL is a scarlet dyeing drug, which is chiefly imported from Mexico and New Spain, and is the production of a small hemipterous insect (Coccus cacti) that is found on the prickly pear (Cactus opuntia) and some other trees.