LECTURE IX. 103 



metropolis itself; but as they were evidently 

 driven out of their course by adverse winds, and 

 were much weakened during their flight, they soon 

 perished. Straggling specimens are from time to 

 time observed, but happily this insect can hardly 

 be fairly numbered among the regular native in- 

 sects of England. Its general size may be ob- 

 served in the figures we are now viewing, which 

 are copied from those of the admirable Roesel, an 

 artist of such transcendent excellence in his mode 

 of representing the smaller animals, that in the 

 words of Mr. Fuseli he may be said to have 

 raised insect-painting almost to the dignity of 

 History. 



A species of Locust of much larger size and 

 of great beauty of colours is that called G. cris- 

 tatus or the crested Locust, so named from the 

 rising processes on the top of the back. This 

 species is at least five or six times the size of the 

 migratory or wandering Locust, and is a native of 

 the Eastern regions. It is often salted, and used 

 as an article of food in many parts of the Levant, 

 and it is supposed that it was the food of saint 

 John during his state of retirement in the desert. 

 It has indeed been sometimes supposed that the 



