76 Observations on various Insects 



is only partially spotted, it is very beneficial to strew potash, 

 unslaked lime, or other alkalies, over the infested land before or 

 after the Avinter season, which will restore the grass to vigour, 

 and it is presumed will destroy the grubs. Heavy rolling has 

 also been successfully resorted to with the view of settling the 

 undermined turf. If it be necessary to destroy the beetles, a 

 cloth should be spread under the clustered branches previous to 

 shaking them, and, as the May-bug flies in the day, this opera- 

 tion must be performed early in the morning or in the evening. 



33. The Mole-cricket — Gryllotalpa Vulgaris — 



is sometimes abundant in marshes and damp pasture-lands, in- 

 habiting also the banks of streams, ponds, &c. The liistory of 

 this remarkable insect has been so fully given in a former report,* 

 together with accurate descriptions and various suggested means 

 for destroying it, that it will be unnecessary here to enter further 

 on the subject. 



Grasshoppers and Locusts. 



These insects are distributed over every portion of the globe, 

 and feed almost entirely on vegetable substances. Although 

 their depredations in this country are not sensibly felt, it is 

 evident to every one, by the incessant chirping of the grass- 

 hoppers in the autumn, that our fields, heaths, pasture-lands, and 

 meadows must be swarming with them. 



The female having deposited her clusters of eggs in the earth 

 in August or September, they hatch early in the following spring, 

 and produce minute creatures resembling the parents, except that 

 they are destitute of wings. They at once commence feeding on 

 the herbage, and as they grow tliey cast their skins six times, and 

 gradually become exceedingly like the parents, but instead of 

 wings they are only provided with two little flaps or rudiments 

 of those organs. When they cast the last skin they become per- 

 fect grasshoppers, and then the wings are well developed in those 

 species which ai'e destined for flight. 



In this country there are about twenty species, Avhich vary 

 greatly in their colour and markings ; they belong to an ORDER 

 called OrthoPTERA, the FAMILY GRYLLIDyl] or LOCUSTID/E, and 

 the GENUS LOCUSTA. Amongst the largest British species is one 

 found in our marshes, named by Gmelin 



34. LocusTA, or Gryllus Flavipes; 



and occasionally the migratory locust {Locusta mirjratoria) visits 

 this country in the autumn in small quantities, which are evidently 



* Vol. vii. p. 432. 



