Chap, IX. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 227 



ftroyed, they do not appear to multiply much, otherwife the race of 

 the animals on which they prey might In time be annihilated. Againft 

 this over-increafe Nature has provided in two ways ; iirft, by the 

 female not breeding often ; and, fecondly, by her not producing 

 many at a time. We have an example of both in the fox, the only 

 beaft of prey now remaining in Britain : For, as we have already ob- 

 ferved, the bitch-fox never breeds oftener than once a year ; and 

 there is reafon to believe, from the example of the wild covv^s, not fo 

 often ; and, fecondly, fhe does not produce many at a litter, not 

 near fo many as the tame bitch. 



But there is a third way by which Nature has guarded againfl fhe 

 over-increafe of thefe fpeciefes ; and that is by the females producing 

 more males than females. This is obferved in the fox among us : 

 For the proportion of males to females, in that fpecies, is obferved to 

 be at leaft as three to tivo ; fo that, when there are five of them 

 ija a litter, there are three of them males : And fometimes the males 

 are as fijuo to one. And there is good reafon to believe that it is the 

 fame in other fpeciefes of animals of prey. 



There is an animal, which may be called, an animal of prey, as it 

 preys upon the fruits of the earth more than any other animal 

 preys upon flefh. The animal I mean is the locuft. Thefe animals 

 were one of the plagues of Egypt, and the fevereft, I think, of them 

 all ; and they are flill a plague, in fome years, both in Africa and 

 Spain, where they would devour every green thing, and defolate the 

 earth, if the males of the fpecies were not very much fupernumerary 

 to the females. This is well known In Spain ; for there, if they 

 obferve that the females are greater in number than ufual,they fore- 

 tel, with great certainty, that the deftrudion by the locuiis will that 

 year be very great *, 



F f 2 From 



* See a bcok of ' ravrls in Spain, lately published, in the '780, by John Talbot 

 Pillon, Knight and Baron of the facred Roman Empire. Ht has bcftowed a whole 



chapter 



