26 HISTORY OF 



after them, gnawing off the young branches and 

 the very bark of the trees. Having lived near a 

 month in this manner, they arrived at their full 

 growth, and threw off their worm-like state, by 

 casting their skins. To prepare themselves for this 

 change, they fixed their hinder feet to some bush 

 or twig, or corner of a stone, when immediately, 

 by an undulating motion used on this occasion, 

 their heads would first appear, and soon after the 

 rest of their bodies. The whole transformation 

 was performed in seven or eight minutes' time ; 

 after which they were a little while in a languish- 

 ing condition ; but as soon as the sun and air 

 had hardened their wings, and dried up the mois- 

 ture that remained after casting oft' their sloughs, 

 they returned again to their former greediness, 

 with an addition both of strength and agility. 

 But they did not continue long in this state be- 

 fore they were entirely dispersed, after laying their 

 eggs directing their course northward, and pro- 

 bably perished in the sea. It is said that the 

 holes these animals make to deposit their eggs in, 

 are four feet deep in the ground ; the eggs are 

 about fourscore in number, of the size of carraway 

 comfits, and bundled up together in clusters. 



It would be endless to recount all the mischiefs 

 which these famished insects have at different 

 times occasioned ; but what can have induced 

 them to take such distant flights, when they 

 come into Europe, is not so easy to be accounted 

 for. It seems most probable, that by means of a 

 very dry season in the heart of Africa, they are 

 propagated in such numbers, that the vegetables 



