As we have adopted the old Roman name locusta, and rejected 

 the modern word cicada, it behoves us to assign our reasons for 

 dissenting from modern naturalists. It must have occurred to 

 the votaries of natural history, that they are often met by too 

 great a propensity to generalise, and therefore to crowd incon- 

 gruous articles into the same genus. While it seems to promote 

 order and facilitate study, it sometimes operates at the expense 

 of accuracy, leaving some varieties undefined or imperfectly 

 described. If we are not deceived, the sequel will show that 

 this remark applies emphatically to the locust. Although it is 

 exclusively an American insect, it has been identified with a 

 species of another genus that belongs to the Eastern and Southern 

 continents. It has been unnaturally forced into the genus Gryllus, 

 and thus associated with the numerous varieties of the cicadas, to 

 which it bears some analogies, while many of its principal charac- 

 teristics are at variance with the whole tribe. It will therefore 

 appear, upon a further investigation, that foreign naturalists, (who 

 knew it only by tradition) have conceived a very imperfect con- 

 ception of its true character. 



An inquiry into its anatomy and physiology will shew, that we 

 cannot run a parallel through the two genera, nor identify the lo- 

 cust with any one variety of either. 



The genus Gryllus belongs to the fifth class of animals, called 

 Insecta. It comprehends those that breathe through lateral spiracles , 

 and whose skins are bony, and covered with hair. They belong to 

 the second order, Hemiptera, with semi-crustaceous wings, and snout 

 inflected. The antennas are cetaceous and bristle shaped, with legs 

 formed for leaping. This definition embraces the whole tribe of 

 cicadse, which consists of grasshoppers, treehoppers and crickets; 

 and it is very natural (from a mere prima facie resemblance,) 

 that naturalists should have coupled them together. Hence 

 Linnseus denominated the American locust, Cicada Septemdecima ; 

 but Fabricius, sensible of some discrepancy he has not explained, 

 proposed a subgenus, which he denominated Tettigonia. This only 

 evades the difficulty, as it is the substitution of a Greek for a Latin 



