On the Locust of North- America. 53 



The old people at Bethlehem and Nazareth say, that 

 such numbers of them have never been seen since. 



The year 1775 was another of the years in which 

 the locusts abounded. Some persons, travelling from 

 Bethlehem to Wyoming and Shamokin, found that, 

 in many places, they had entirely destroyed the leaves 

 of the trees. But such destruction did not take place 

 in the cultivated parts of the country. 



Their years have, since that time, been 1783 and 

 1792, when they have visibly decreased in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Bethlehem and Nazareth. In 1792, 

 those near Bethlehem were chiefly confined to their 

 favourite spots, the orchards. 



It was observed, that the locusts do great damage 

 to the fruit-trees, especially the apple-trees. This is 

 occasioned by their piercing the tender branches, in 

 order to deposit in them their eggs. All the twigs 

 or branches thus perforated, soon die. The eggs 

 fall to the ground ; but what changes they undergo, 

 and how long they remain in the earth, is uncertain. 

 From the above-mentioned circumstances, and the 

 extraordinary increase of the locusts at the end of a 

 certain period of years (varying, perhaps, according 

 to the season), it has been supposed by many, that 

 the eggs require at least seven years to come to per- 

 fection. So much is certain, that the locusts arc 

 often found in the chrysalis state, at the depth of 

 seven or eight (some say fifteen) feet below the sur- 

 face of the earth ; which has further given rise to the 



