Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1892 — Moorish Locusts Feed Man and Beast. [ARTICLE]

Moorish Locusts Feed Man and Beast.

The British consul at Mogador, while on an excursion inland, about a day’s journey from Mogador, met flights of locusts. He says it was an astonishing and interesting though painful sight, the air being in some parts so thick with them that they formed a dense living brown, fog, through which he could hardly find his way, while they so completely covered the giound that the utmost caution was necessary in walking, as he could not tell whether be was treading on soft sand, hard, slippery rock, or what. Many birds feasted on the insects, including large flights of gulls from the sea, and beasts evidently enjoy their share, for in the middle of the densest swarm he saw a fine red fox dancing about in the most frantic manner, leaping and snapping up dozens of locusts in the air, until, seeing the stranger, he suddenly dropped on all fours and quickly vanished in the live fog. Not only did the barbel get their share of the novel food (the consul used the locusts successfully as bait for them) but some of the fish of the Atlantic were found gorged with locusts which had been blown off the land by easterly winds. As usual, they were extensively eaten by the native population, both Jipfiammedan and Jewish.

On the Western prairie is found what is called the compass plant, which is of great value to travelers. The long leaves at the base of its stem are placed, not flat, as in plants generally, but in a vertical position and present their edges north and south. The peculiar propensity of the plant is attributed to the fact that both surfaces of its leaves display an equal receptivity for light, whereas the upper surfaces of the leaves of most plants are more sensitive to light than the lower; the leaves thus assume a vertical position and point north and south. Truckee, Nev., had a shaving concontest recently. The successful artist scraped his man in forty-five seconds, and no blood was shed.