184 NATURAL HISTORY. [cH. XII. 



places, where they lay their eggs and then die. 

 Therefore, great care should be taken at this time, 

 when the ground is freed of its crop, to destroy 

 them before they lay their eggs. In the month of 

 September, 1748, we received certain intelligence, 

 that several swarms of locusts had come out of 

 Wallachia into Transylvania, through the usual in- 

 lets, and took possession of a tract of land in the 

 neighbourhood of Clausenberg, three miles in length, 

 where it was not possible to save the millet and the 

 Turkish corn from these devourers." 



In Dillon's Travels through Spain, we find the 

 following account of the devastations of a species 

 of locust in 1754, 55, 56, and 57. " The locusts are 

 continually seen in the southern parts of Spain, 

 particularly in the pastures and remote uncultivated 

 districts of Estremadura, but in general are not 

 taken notice of, if not very numerous, as they com- 

 monly feed upon wild herbs, without preying upon 

 gardens and cultivated lands, or making their way 

 into houses. The peasants look at them with in- 

 difference while they are frisking about in the fields, 

 neglecting any measure to destroy them till the 

 danger is immediate, and the favourable moment to 

 remedy the evil is elapsed. Their yearly number 

 is not very considerable, as the males are far more 

 numerous than the females. If an equal proportion 

 were allowed only for ten years, their number would 

 be so great as to destroy the whole vegetative sys- 

 tem ; beasts and birds would starve for want of 

 subsistence, and even man would become a prey to 

 their ravenous appetites. In 1754 their increase 

 was so great from the multitude of females, that all 

 La Mancha and Portugal were covered with them, 

 and totally ravaged : the horrors of famine spread 

 even further, and assailed the fruitful provinces' of 

 Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia. These locusts 

 seem to devour, not so much from a ravenous ap- 

 petite, as from a rage for destroying every thing 



