On American Locusts. 175 



This locust is about an inch and a half in length. 

 The head and thorax are black, and the abdomen of a 

 dark brown colour. There are two hard and red pro- 

 minences on the head. The proboscis is about half an 

 inch in length, is closely pressed down to the chest, and 

 admits of little elevation. The abdomen is about an 

 inch in circumference, and lamellated. The males, 

 at the junction of the thorax with the abdomen, have a 

 kind of drum or tambourin, of a thin membranous tex- 

 ture, with which the locust, by imparting to it a tremu- 

 lous motion, produces a shrill, jarring sound, which is 

 usually continued a quarter of a minute, and renewed af 

 pleasure. 



Of this musical organ the female is destitute. She 

 is furnished with a strong and sharp horn, about a 

 quarter of an inch in length, which proceeds from the in- 

 ferior part of the abdomen, a little more than the length 

 of the horn from its extremity. This instrument lies 

 close to the abdomen, in a sinus made to receive it; but 

 it can, at pleasure, be elevated to describe an angle of 45 

 degrees. 



These locusts, as I have already observed, made 

 their first appearance early in the month of May. They 

 were seen only in the middle and western parts of the 

 state, where the lands are hilly, the soil of a reddish 

 colour, and the timber-growth principally oak and hic- 

 kory. I saw them only in the vicinity of this city, where 

 the growth is as just described, intermixed with pine. 

 Here they were extremely numerous, flying about in 

 every direction, near the tops and middle-branches of 



