132 LOCUST. 



worm; and we Transylvanians found by experi- 

 ence that the swarm which entered our fields by 

 the Red Tower, did not seem to intend remaining 

 there, but were thrown to the ground by the force 

 of the wind, and there laid their eggs; a vast 

 number of which being turned up and crushed by 

 the plough in the beginning of the ensuing spring, 

 yielded a yellowish juice. In the spring of 1748 

 certain little blackish worms were seen lying in 

 the fields and among the bushes, sticking together, 

 and collected in clusters, not unlike the hillocks 

 of moles or ants. As nobody knew what they 

 were, so there was little or no notice taken of 

 them, and in May they were covered by the shoot- 

 ing of the corn sown in winter; but the sub- 

 sequent June discovered what those worms were; 

 for then, as the corn sown in spring was pretty 

 high, these creatures began to spread over the 

 fields, and become destructive to the vegetables 

 by their numbers. Then at length the country 

 people, who had slighted the warning given them, 

 began to repent of their negligence; for as these 

 insects were now dispersed all over the fields, they 

 could not be extirpated without injuring the corn. 

 At that time they differed little or nothing from 

 our common Grasshoppers,having their head, sides, 

 and back of a dark colour, with a yellow belly, 

 and the rest of a reddish hue. About the middle 

 of June, according as they were hatched sooner 

 or later, they were generally a finger's length, or 

 somewhat longer, but their shape and colour still 

 continued. Towards the end of June they cast 

 off their outward covering, and then it plainly ap- 



