Food Sources: Earth, Water, and Air - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 107

themselves, if they can be killed, provide
some food.
From time to time chronicles mention
certain particular invasions of locusts, but
generally without giving details, and the
information to be gathered from these
references is, it seems, too haphazard and
localized to allow any deductions to be
made in respect of possible modifications
in the habits of the locusts, the periodic-
ity of their invasions or the area of their
migrations. Today there are several migra-
tory species, the two that chiefly concern
us being the Desert Locust (Schistocerca
gregaria, mainly in East Africa and Asia)
and the Migratory Locust (Locusta migra-
toria, all other parts of Africa). Attempts
have always been made to prevent these
invasions; and although modern tech-
niques have to some extent increased the
effectiveness of control, they have not in
fact introduced any new methods for a
long time nor, as yet, have they overcome
the scourge. Naturally, the local inhabit-
ants have destroyed the eggs whenever
they have found them, as a preventive
step. When an invasion takes place, they
try to stop the locusts advancing, or to
kill them by digging pits, spraying poison,
using wheeled screens and flame-throwers
etc., (poison and fire already envisaged by
Ibn Wa ª iyya) although the destruction
inflicted does not prevent terrible damage
being done. Resistance can only be suc-
cessful if immediate notice of the locusts'
flight from their outbreak areas is sent,
together with details of their route; and it
is obvious that particular efforts must be
made to discover the places where egg-
masses are deposited and to destroy eggs
and young on the spot, and perhaps later
to make these areas ecologically unsuit-
able as breeding-grounds. This is what
the international organizations are now
trying to do, so far without success; and
they have suffered from the vicissitudes of
African politics, particularly the Organi-

sation Internationale contre le Criquet
Migrateur which is chiefly concerned
with the breeding grounds on the Niger,
and the Anti-Locust Research Centre
for East Africa and West Asia, with its
headquarters in Nairobi. Partial successes
have been gained, for example in South
Africa, and it is to be hoped that, so long
as the state of international relations does
not once again lead to a postponement of
effort, it may at last be possible to put an
end to one of the strangest and most fear-
ful of the scourges of nature ever known,
particularly in the climatic zones inhab-
ited by the Muslim peoples.

(Cl. Cahen)

Lizard

Arabic abb , the thorn-tail lizard ( Uro-
mastix spinipes ). Cognate synonyms exist in
other Semitic languages.
The animal, found in abundance in
the homeland of the Arabs, is often men-
tioned and described in ancient poetry
and proverbs. Much of the information on
the animal derives from just these sources
which are freely quoted in later zoological
works. The abb was eaten by the Ancient
Arabs who relished it as tasty food; still it
is reported that the tribe of Tamīm, who
were especially fond of eating it, were rid-
iculed on that account by other Arabs. In
Islamic times, the lawfulness of its use as
human food was expressly pointed out by
some adī º s. Bedouin eat it to the pres-
ent day.
The abb is described as clever but for-
getful; it may even not find its way back
to its hole, wherefore it chooses a con-
spicuous place for its habitation. It digs its
hole in solid ground—whereby its claws
become blunt—lest it collapse under the
tread of hoofed animals. It does not brood
over the eggs but lays them in a small