i72 



of the visncga. It is of an oval figure^ a little 

 iarger than a house-fly, and is entirely of a 

 golden colour, and extremely brilliant. The 

 country people in the province of Maule, where 

 it is principally to be met with, string together a 

 number of these insects for necklaces and other 

 ornaments, which preserve their beauty and bril- 

 liancy for a long time. 



In the same province is found a black beetle of 

 more than half an inch in length, called pilmo 

 (lucanuspilraus) which is very destructive to le- 

 guminous plants, particularly the bean. But 

 the husbandmen have succeeded in nearly extir- 

 pating this species, by shaking the plants, upon 

 which they are, over vessels of hot w ater placed 

 beneath. 



Chili is much less infested with grasshoppers 

 than Cujo, and many other countries in America. 

 There is but one species with which I am ac- 

 quainted ; it is found upon fruit trees, and is 

 about six inches long. When the insect extends 

 its legs, it resembles verv much a twig of the tree 

 upon which it keeps. The common people, ac- 

 cording to the vulgar notion that every thing de- 

 formed has some connexion with evil spirits, call 

 it the devil's horse.* It is not a common insect, 

 and appears to me to resemble the grillus clephas 



* From the author's (lescvi]iTion, this ijiscct appears rather 

 tc beloD" t thi; L'^niit^ of iirantis ihua unv other. i-r. Trans. 



