OP MU?CULAR MOTION. 46;" 



locusts were conveyed even a considerable distance from land by high 

 winds, yet must a great portion of their journey be ascribed to 

 their own continuous muscular power, for otherwise they would hare 

 fallen much earlier into the sea, but as the abated wind no longer 

 supported their flight like the violent one, their strength decreased and 

 they fell down. Other instances are found of the continued voyages 

 of Libdlulce to considerable distances. We have before mentioned the 

 rapidity of their flight in a case observed by Leuwenhoek. Indeed 

 these little creatures do not more excite our astonishment by the light- 

 ness and rapidity with which they fly, than by the duration of their 

 motion. They incessantly swarm and hover about meadows, brooks 

 and ponds, their favourite places of resort, without ever reposing any 

 length of time ; and as if they wished to excite still more the rage 

 of their pursuer by their playful motions, they hover in front of him 

 the moment he thinks to capture them, and yet do not allow him to 

 attain his object. Several instances are on record of their migrating 

 in vast multitudes. Kirby and Spence in their classical work * 

 have cited several, and I myself have twice been an eye-witness of such 

 migrations. They proceeded rather low, in innumerable multitudes, 

 in an undulating body over the heads of their astonished spectators, 

 without the least apparent cause of their collection or migration 

 offering. On the evening of the day they dispersed, and on the follow- 

 ing day, all the streets of the town over which the swarm passed were 

 animated by the returning members of this numerous society. 



We will here conclude our description of the motions of insects. 

 Much that was highly interesting and much that might be still said 

 upon these subjects from the natural history of these creatures, we have 

 necessarily left unnoticed, as our object was but to state the chief 

 results and most general phenomena. The very interesting work of 

 Kirby and Spence contains such a multitude of these details, related in 

 a charming style, that, had we wished to have been more copious, we 

 could but have repeated their animated description. We must conse- 

 quently refer our readers for what relates to the external relations of 

 insects entirely to the work of those learned and well-informed gentle- 

 men. 



" Introduction, vol. ii. p. 12. 



H II 



