LOCRIS LOCUST. 



511 



Above the fire box, and communicating with the 

 upper part of the boiler, there is a sort of bell- 

 shaped receiver covered at the top, and opening 

 into the boiler, as seen at E". A pipe opening 

 into this receiver by a knee joint, traverses hori- 

 zontally along the whole length of the upper part 

 of the boiler. At its farther extremity, it opens 

 into two pipes of smaller bore, one of which is seen 

 at g, the other being hid in the section. These 

 pipes are bended downwards, in order to supply the 

 cylinders, one of which is seen at R. 



The hot air and smoke, as before stated, pass along 

 the horizontal tubes in the boiler, rise up through the 

 chimney A', and escape into the air. F is the safety- 

 valve, being of the steel yard kind, but instead of 

 the pressure being regulated by a movable weight, 

 it is regulated by a spiral steel spring, whose elastic 

 force is measured by a graduated scale. F' is an- 

 other safety-valve, wrought in a similar way, but 

 confined within a pipe, so that the workmen cannot 

 get at it, in order that should the other valve be too 

 much loaded, the valve F' will still act, and prevent 

 accidents when the force of the steam is greater than 

 it should be. E is the man hole, which is uncovered 

 when the boiler requires to be cleaned. The engine, 

 which is of the high pressure kind, is seen at R r ; 

 the cylinders, two in number, lie nearly in a hori- 

 zontal position, being a little inclined upwards to- 

 wards the fire-box, or back of the carriage. 



The alternate motion of the piston rod, gives mo- 

 tion to a crank on the axle of the back wheels, and 

 thus the carriage is propelled. The valves in the 

 nozzles are wrought by the eccentrics V V, fig. 1. 

 plate 51. No. 2. The levers for putting off' or on the 

 steam, as also for working the eccentrics that cause 

 the carriage to move either backwards or forwards, 

 are seen at A and Z at the end of the fire-box. D is 

 the hot water pump, which may be connected with 

 the water butt at pleasure, by a handle y, at the 

 command of the engine man, who stands within the 

 rail at the back of the carriage. The whole is sus- 

 pended on springs, which may be seen at N, in fig. 1. 

 plate 51. No. 1. 



For a description of the most approved methods of 

 constructing the carriages for locomotive engines, 

 and other particulars regarding locomotion, see the 

 article Railways. A description of engines and ap- 

 paratus for aquatic locomotion, will be found under 

 the head Steam Engine. 



With regard to locomotive engines for moving on 

 common roads, it is unnecessary to say much . Vari- 

 ous attempts have from time to time been made by 

 Mr Gurney, Messrs Heatons, Mr Russell, and other 

 ingenious engineers ; but although very great me- 

 chanical skill has been displayed in these inventions, 

 none of them have succeeded to satisfaction. From 

 the rapid improvements in the various departments of 

 machinery, it is highly probable that ere long steam 

 carriages will be made to ply on our turnpike roads 

 with safety and expedition. 



LOCRIS was a country of Middle Greece, whose 

 inhabitants, the Locrians, were among the oldest 

 Grecian people. There were four branches of them 

 the Epicnemidian, the Opuntian, Ozolian, and 

 Epizephyrian Locrians. The last were a colony 

 from the Ozolian stock, and lived in Lower Italy. 

 Their capital, Locri, was one of the most powerful, 

 splendid, and wealthy cities of Magna Graecia. 



LOCUST. The misapplication of popular appel- 

 lations, and the mutations of entomology, have intro- 

 duced some confusion in regard to the scientific 

 names of many insects. The American cicada are 

 popularly known in the United States both by the 

 names of harvest-fly and locust ; the latter term, how- 

 ever, is incorrectly applied. Under the generic name 



locusta is included, by several modern entomologists, 

 the devouring locusts and the common grasshop- 

 pers. These entomologists use the term in nearly 

 the same sense as Linnseus, who affixed it to a 

 group of his great genus gryllus, which constitutes 

 the genus gryllus proper of Fabricius. The grass- 

 hopper may be thus characterized. The wings and 

 wing-cases are applied obliquely to the sides of the 

 body in repose ; the antennae are short, and do not 

 taper towards the ends; the feet have only three 

 joints ; and the tail is not furnished with a projecting 

 oviduct, or piercer, for the deposition of the eggs. 

 These insects have the hind leg formed for leaping, 

 and the males produce a stridulous sound, by scraping 

 these legs against their wing-cases. The female 

 deposits her eggs in the earth, and the young survive 

 the winter in the larvae state, concealed among the 

 decayed vegetation of the surface. They pass through 

 an imperfect metamorphosis, for both larvae and pupae 

 resemble, somewhat, the perfect insects in form, are 

 active, and take food in the same way, but are desti- 

 tute of wings. In all stages, they are herbivorous 

 and sometimes do immense injury to vegetation. 

 The salt marshes of North America haroour an 

 innumerable host, which not unfrequently strips 

 them of every blade of grass ; or, when a scanty 

 crop is gathered into the barn, the hay is so filled 

 with the putrescent carcases of these grasshoppers, 

 or locusts, as to be highly offensive, and totally unfit 

 for forage. In some sections of that country, they 

 occasionally appear in such numbers as to fill the air 

 in clouds, and wherever they alight they devour 

 every green thing in their path. It is stated, on 

 good authority, that, more than once when they 

 visited some parts of New England, they not only ate 

 up all the grass in the fields, but actually attacked 

 clothing and fences to appease their insatiable 

 hunger. Some workmen, employed in raising the 

 steeple of a church, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, 

 were, while standing near the vane, covered by them, 

 and saw, at the same time, vast swarms flying at a 

 great height far above their heads. These swarms 

 are said to return after a short migration, and perish 

 on the very grounds they have ravaged. (See 

 Dwight's Travels.) Many of these insects are orna- 

 mented with various beautiful colours, particularly 

 on the wings, which, however, in repose, are not 

 visible, being folded like a fan, and covered by the 

 long, narrow wing-ca^es. One of the largest and 

 most common American species is the locusta Caro- 

 lina of Linnaeus. It is about one inch and three 

 quarters in length, and the wings are of a deep black 

 colour, surrounded with a broad yellow border. 

 The most celebrated species of grasshopper is the 

 gryllus migratorius (migratory locust). Of all ani- 

 mals capable of adding to the calamities of man- 

 kind, by destroying the vegetable products of the 

 earth, the migratory locusts would seem to possess 

 the most formidable powers of destruction. In Syria, 

 Egypt, and almost all the south of Asia, these insects 

 make their appearance in legions, and carry desola- 

 tion with them, in a few hours changing the most 

 fertile provinces into barren deserts, and darkening 

 the air by their numbers. Happily for mankind 

 this calamity is not frequently repeated, for it is the 

 inevitable precursor of famine, and its horrible conse- 

 quences. The annals of most of the southern Asia- 

 tic climates are filled with the accounts of the 

 devastations produced by locusts. They seldom visit 

 Europe in such swarms, though they are occasionally 

 formidable to the agriculturist Even when dead, 

 they are still productive of evil consequences, since 

 the putrefaction which arises from their inconceiv- 

 able number, is so great, that it is justly regarded as 

 the cause of some of those desolating pestilences 



