Apart from incidental references in parables, there is one saying of Jesus which calls for fuller notice. 'If ye lend [davei^w, lend tipon interest;
LOCUST
LOCUST
43
contrast Kixpvf^i of a friendly loan, Lk IP only) to tliem of whom ye hope to receive, wliat thank have je ? even sinners lend to sinners, to receive again as much. But love jour enemies, and do them gooil, and lend, never despairing ; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall l>e sons of the Most High : for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil " (Lk 6*^*-, cf. :Mt 5^-). The ditticulty, in part one of textual reading, but mainly of interpretation, finds adequate repre- sentation in ' iioping for nothing again ' (AV), 'never despairing' (RV), 'despairing of no man' (KVm). Tills uncertainty cannot, however, atiect tiie meaning, which is determined by tlie preceding ver>es, and though the rendering of the AV must l>e rejected on critical grounds, it may well stand as an adequate gloss. On the authority of this saying the unlawfulness for Christians of receiving interest on loans has been based : and, rightlj- understood and ajiplied, the inference is just. The commandment is one of benevolence. Ciiristian charity is not to be bj' way of loans at interest. It is the duty of giving Jesus teaches, as if He said, 'Let your lending be giving' — a rule of charity which experience justifies, and which, from the would-be borrowers side, receives support in St. Paul's saying, ' Owe no man anjthing, save to love one another ' (Ro 13^).
W. H. Dyson-.
LOCUST. — 1. Zoological description. — Locusts belong to the natural order Orthoptera. The members of this order are insects which undergo only a jiartial metamoi-phosis ; the larva is scarcely distinguishable from the adult, unless hy its smaller form and by the atrophy of its wings, \\ liich develop only gradually in proportion to its giowth. Ex- cepting this ditl'erence, it has the same form and tlie same habits as the adult. In its perfect state, the first pair of wings, though remaining supple, have a certain consistency. Tliey cover the hind wings, which are membranous and transparent, and folded under the ujiper wings in tlie form of a fan. The mouth is of shape suitable for mastication, and the jaws act like a pair of scissors. Formerly the Orthoptera were divided into runners and Irapcrs, but this division ha-s been abandoned. Locusts were classed among the lea[>ers. Accord- ing to the present nomenclature, we must class tiiem among the Orthoptera gcnuina. Among these appear amon^others (a) the family of Locus- todco", to which the European grasshoppers (the sub- family of the Locustido') belong ; and also (b) the family of Acridiodea', which includes in its various subfamilies the principal locusts of Palestine. It is of the highest importance to avoid the confusion which may arise from this misleading terminology, according to which the ' locusts ' of the Bible do not belong to the scientific family Locustodca;.
We are, then, to treat of the family Acridiodece. Their antennje are relatively short, scarcely exceed- ing tlie length of tlie head. wherea.s the antennoe of the Lorustodeo' are very long, as long as their bodies. Their hind legs, adapted for leaping, have very strong thighs furnished with indentations, which are easily seen if slightly magnified. The head is vertical. The first {>air of wings are more leathery than the second, but l>oth jiresent the same reticulated ajijiearance. The rapid brushing of the thighs of the hind legs, furnished with in- dentations, against the nervures of the front wings produces, when the insect is at rest, a stridulation, the tone and height of wliidi vary according to the species. The Acridiodea' are generally diurnal, and their food is essentially herbaceous. In the females the abdomen ends in a pair of short pin- cers, whereas in the Loiustodece this appendage is greatly prolonged like the blade of a sabre. These pincers serve to bury in the earth, one by one, the
eggs, which are dis])osed in cylindrical masses and held together by a frothy sec-retion.
The insect moults six times, but the principal stages of its development are only two — larva and imago (perfect state). The iiitermediate state ipup^i) which we find in other orders of insects is imperceptible in the Orthoptera. In their state of larva', locusts, having no wings, or more correctly, merely the rudiments of wings, hop on the ground ; even at this stage they are extremely destinictive. Later, with the succeeding moultings, the wings develoi», but remain enclosed in a membranous case ; the insects now advance icalking. At last, at their sixth moulting, wliich takes place from sLx to seven weeks after their coming out of tiie efig, locusts attain to their perfect state, and, unfolding their wings, fy through the air, producmg what travellers descri1>e as 'a hissing or a buzzing noise. '
In Palestine as many as forty different species of Acridiodra" have l>een noted. The most important of these belong; to the sub-families of the Tryx- alida', the (Edipodida; and the Acridiidte properlj- so called. The commonest species, those which are rightly associated with the locusts mentioned in the Bible, are the Parhytylus rnigratorius (for- merly called (Edipoda niigratoria) and tlie Schisto- ccrca percgrina (formerly called Acridium pere- grinum). The colour of these insects is generally brown bordering on green, but with a bluish tint round the mouth, and with black sjwts on the body and green sj)ots on the wings. The males are coloured ditterently from the females. In re- gard to their dimensions, locusts are as much as three or even four inches long when they are full grown.