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succeeds, almost in an instant, to the rich scenery of the spring. When these clouds of Locusts take their flight, the heavens may sometimes literally be said to be obscured by them. Happily, this calamity is not frequently repeated; for it is the inevitable forerunner of famine. The inhabitants of Syria have remarked, that Locusts are always increased by too mild winters, and that they constantly come from the desert of Arabia. From this observation it is easy to conceive, that, the cold not having been rigorous enough to destroy their eggs, they multiply suddenly; and, the herbage failing them in the immense plains of the desert, innumerable legions issue forth. When they make their first appearance on the frontiers of the cultivated country, the inhabitants attempt to drive them off, by raising large clouds of smoke; but frequently their herbs and wet straw fail them. They then dig trenches, where numbers of the insects are buried: but the most efficacious destroyers are the south and south-easterly winds, and the locust-eating thrushes*. These birds. follow them in numerous flocks like starlings, and not only greedily devour them, but kill as many as they can: accordingly they are much respected by the peasants, and nobody is allowed to shoot them. As to the southerly and south-easterly winds, they drive with violence these clouds of Locusts over the Mediterranean, where such quantities of them are sometimes drowned, that, when their bodies are thrown on the shore, they infect the air for several days, even to a great distance.

The annals of most hot countries are filled with accounts of the devastations occasioned by Locusts. These insects, however, seldom now visit Europe in such swarms as formerly; yet in the warmer parts of this continent they are still formidable. Those that have at uncertain intervals visited Europe, within the memory of man, are supposed to have come from

* Turdus gryllovorus, of Linnæus..

Africa. Some have at different times been seen in Britain, and great mischiefs have been apprehended from them; but, happily for us, the coldness of our climate, and the humidity of our soil, are each unfavourable to their production: they therefore all perish, without leaving a young generation to succeed them.

Locusts, when they take flight, seem at a distance like a dark cloud, which, as it approaches, almost excludes the light of day. It often happens that the husbandman sees them pass over without doing him any injury; but in this case they only proceed to settle on some less fortunate country. Wherever they alight, they make dreadful havock among the vegetation. In the tropical climates, their presence is not attended with such destructive consequences as in the southern parts of Europe; for in those the vegetative power is so strong and active, that an interval of only a few days will sometimes repair all the damage; but in Europe their ravages cannot be obliterated until the succeeding year. In their long flights to this part of the world, from the extent of their journey, they are also nearly famished, and therefore are more voracious, wherever they happen to alight.

We are told, that nearly as much damage is occasioned by what they touch, as by what they devour. Their bite is thought to contaminate the plants, and either to destroy or greatly to weaken their vegetation. To use the expression of the husbandmen," they burn wherever they touch," and in some countries they leave the marks of their devastation for three or four years afterwards. When dead, they infect the air in such a manner that the stench is frequently insupportable. Orosius tells us, that in the year of the world 3800, Africa was infested with a multitude of Locusts. After having eaten up every thing that was green, they flew off, and were drowned in the sea; where they caused such a stench, as could not have been equalled by the putrefying carcasses of a hundred thousand

men.

In the year 1650, a cloud of Locusts was seen to enter Russia in three different places; and thence they spread themselves over Poland and Lithuania, in such astonishing multitudes, that the air was darkened, and the earth covered with their numbers. In some places they were seen lying dead, heaped upon each other to the height of four feet; in others they covered the surface of the ground like a black cloth: the trees bent with their weight; and the damage that the country sustained from them, exceeded computation.

In Barbary, their numbers are often formidable; and Dr. Shaw, in 1724, was a witness of their devastations there. Their first appearance was about the end of March, when the wind had been southerly for some time. In the beginning of April their numbers were so increased, that in the heat of the day large swarms appeared like clouds, and darkened the sun. In the middle of May they began to disappear, retiring into the plains to deposit their eggs. In June the young brood came forth, forming many compact bodies several hundred yards square; which, afterwards marching forward, climbed the trees, walls, and houses, devouring every vegetable that was in their way. The inhabitants, in order to stop their progress, formed trenches all over their fields and gardens, which they filled with water. Some placed large quantities of heath, stubble, and other combustible matter, in rows, and set them on fire at the approach of the Locusts. This, however, was to no purpose; for the trenches were quickly filled up, and the fires put out, by the immense swarms that succeeded each other.

A day or two after one of these swarms was in motion, others that were just hatched, came to glean after them, gnawing off the young branches, and the very bark of the trees. Having lived near a month in this manner, they attained their full growth, and threw off their larva-state by casting their skins. To prepare themselves for this change, they fixed their hinder parts to some bush or twig, or corner of a stone; when,

immediately, by an undulating motion, their heads would first appear, and soon afterwards the rest of their bodies. The whole transformation was performed in seven or eight minutes; after which they remained for a little while in a weak state; but as soon as the sun and air had hardened their wings, and dried up the moisture that remained after casting their sloughs, they returned to their former greediness, with an addition both of strength and agility. But they did not long continue in this state before they were entirely dispersed. After laying their eggs, they directed their course northward, and, probably, perished in the sea.

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Of the innumerable multitudes, that infested the interior parts of Southern Africa, in the year 1797, scarcely any adequate conception can be formed. Mr. Barrow says, that in the part of the country where he then was, the whole surface of an area of nearly 2000 square miles, might literally be said to be covered with them. The water of a wide river was scarcely visible, on account of the dead carcasses that floated on the surface, drowned in the attempt to come at the reeds that grew in it. They had devoured every blade of grass, and every green herb, except the reeds.

When the Locusts attack a field of corn just come into ear, this gentleman says that they first mount to the summit, and pick out every grain, before they touch the leaves and stem. They seem to be constantly in motion, and always to have some object in view. When the larvæ (for these are much more voracious than the perfect insects) are on a march during the day, it is utterly impossible to turn the direction of the troop, which is generally with the wind. Towards the setting of the sun the march is discontinued, when the troop divides into companies that surround the small shrubs or tufts of grass, or ant-hills, and in such thick patches, that they appear like so many swarms of bees; and in this manner they rest till daylight. At these times it is, that the farmers have any chance of destroying them: they sometimes drive

among them a flock of two or three thousand sheep: and by the restlessness of these, immense numbers are trampled to death.

The year 1797 was the third of their continuance in Sneuwberg; and their increase, according to Mr. Barrow's account, had far exceeded that of a geometrical progression, whose ratio is a million.

For ten years preceding their present visit, this district was entirely free from them. Their former exit was somewhat singular. All the full-grown insects were driven into the sea by a tempestuous north-west wind, and were afterwards cast upon the beach, where, it is said, they formed a bank three or four feet high, that extended nearly fifty English miles.

The female Locust, when she lays her eggs, which are generally about forty in number, retires to some solitary place underground. Here, by her sagacity, she secures them from the intemperance of the air, as well as from the more immediate danger of the plough or spade, one fatal blow of which would destroy all the hopes of a rising generation.

One would imagine, that an insect like the Locust would never have been thought of as food for man; yet it is an undoubted fact, that in several parts of Africa, the people eat them. They are dressed in different ways: some pound and boil them with milk: others only broil them on the coals, and think them excellent food. "There is no disputing about tastes, (says Mr. Adanson,) for my part, I would willingly resign whole clouds of Locusts to the negroes of Gambia, for the meanest of their fishes."

OF THE LANTERN-FLIES IN GENERAL.

In this tribe the head is extended forward, and is hollow and inflated. The antennæ, consisting of two joints, the outer one of which is globular, are seated below the eyes. The rostrum or beak* is four-jointed,

This is a jointed sheath, situated in the mouth, and con

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