22 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



course will set at defiance the supposed blighting 

 winds, which no doubt will, as usual, be accused of 

 peopling the adjacent gardens with caterpillars. It 

 may be well to remark, that these caterpillars, wheii 

 hatched, are scarcely so thick as a thread of sewing 

 silk, and being of a greenish colour, they are not 

 readily found on the leaves, the opening buds of 

 which they gnaw to the very core*. 



It does not seem to have ever occurred to those 

 who thus speak of insectiferous winds, that they get 

 rid of no difficulty by the suj)position ; for where, we 

 may ask, is the east or any other wind to take up 

 the insects or eggs which it is said to drift along ? 

 The equally sudden disappearance of insects all at 

 once, which is also popularly attributed to winds, 

 arises from their having arrived at maturity, and 

 fulfilled the designs of Providence, by depositing 

 their eggs for the ensuing season, when they all die, 

 some in a few hours, though others survive for 

 several days, but rarely for weeks. 



The sudden and simultaneous appearance of great 

 numbers of frogs, snails, and other land animals, has 

 given rise to the extravagant opinion that they have 

 fallen in a shower from the clouds ; and some goodly 

 theories have been devised to account for the pro- 

 bable ascent of frog-spawn, and the eggs of snails, 

 into the atmosphere by whirlwinds. The impossi- 

 bility of this, in consequence of their specific gravity, 

 is of course left out of consideration by the theorists. 

 Our distinguished naturalist, Ray, when riding one 

 afternoon in Berkshire, was much surprised at seeing 

 an immense multitude of frogs crossing his path, and 

 on looking into the adjacent fields he found that two 

 or three acres of ground were nearly covered with 

 Ihem, They were all proceeding in the same direc- 

 tion towards some woods and ditches ; and lie traced 

 * J.R. 



