Under
these peculiarities of natural instinct a very simple arrangement
sufficed to lead them to destruction. Pits were dug about three or four
feet deep at right angles with the line of march, and screens of cotton
cloth edged at the bottom with oil-skin were arranged something after
the fashion of stop-nets for ground game in covert-shooting in England.
This wall, with a slippery groundwork, prevented the insects from
proceeding. As they never turn back, they were obliged to search
sideways for a passage, and were thus led into the pits in millions,
where they were destroyed by burying the masses beneath heaps of earth.
If a few gallons of petroleum were sprinkled over them, and fire
applied, much trouble would be saved. This is a crude method of insect
destruction which could be improved upon, but great praise is due to the
efforts of M. Richard Mattei and Said Pacha for having devoted their
energies so successfully to the eradication of a scourge which proved
its ancient importance from the Biblical registration of a curse upon
the Egyptians.
There is a reward given by government for the destruction of locust
eggs. Each female deposits two small cases or sheaths beneath the
ground, containing thirty or forty eggs in each. The position is easily
distinguished by a shining slimy substance. A certain sum per oke is
given, and the people gladly avail themselves of the opportunity of
earning money at the same time that they destroy the common enemy.
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