THE GRASSHOPPER THE LOCUST. 



81 



ATLANTIC OCEAN. 



man, but yet have not learned a wholesome dread of him. 

 From these facts, too, we may guess what havoc the intro- 

 duction of any new beast of prey must cause in a country 

 before the instincts of the native inhabitants have become 

 adapted to the stranger's craft or poweiv 



THE GRASSHOPPER. 



THE most remarkable instance I have known of an insect 

 being caught far from the 

 land, w T as that of a large 

 grasshopper (Acrydium), 

 which flew on board 

 when the Beagle was to 

 windward of the Cape 

 de Verd Islands, aiid 

 when the nearest point 

 of land not directly op- 

 posed to the trade-wind 

 was Cape Blanco, on the coast of Africa, three hundred and 

 seventy miles distant. 



THE GRASSHOPPER. 



THE LOCUST. 



SHORTLY before we arrived at Luxan (province of Men-' 

 doza, La Plata) we observed to the south a ragged cloud, of 

 a dark reddish -brown color. At first we thought that it 

 was smoke from some great fire on the plains; but we soon 

 found that it Was a swarm of locusts. They were flying 



6 



