THE LOCUST. 183 



Destructive to vegetation. 



light of day. It often happens that the husband- 

 man sees them pass over without doing him any 

 injury; but in this case they only proceed to 

 settle on some less fortunate country. Where- 

 ever they alight, they make dreadful havoc 

 among the vegetation. In the tropical climates 

 their presence is not attended with such destruc- 

 tive consequences as in the southern parts of Eu- 

 rope ; for in those the vegetative power is so 

 strong and active that an interval of only a few 

 days will sometimes repair all the damage: but 

 in Europe their ravages cannot be obliterated 

 till the succeeding year. " One thing which 

 always surprised me," says Mr. Adanson in his 

 Voyage to Senegal, " is the amazing rapidity 

 with which the sap of trees in this country re- 

 pairs any loss they happen to sustain; and I was 

 never more astonished than when, four days 

 after a terrible invasion by the locusts, in which 

 every green thing was devoured, I saw the trees 

 covered with new leaves, and not appear to have 

 suffered very greatly. The herbaceous plants 

 bore marks of the devastation somewhat longer: 



O ' 



but a few days were sufficient to repair everv 

 mischief." In their long flights to this part of 

 the world, from the extent of their journey, they 

 are also nearly famished, and therefore more vo- 

 racious wherever they happen to alight. 



Nearly as much damage, it is said, is occasi- 

 oned by what they touch as by what they de- 

 four. The.ir bite is thought to contaminate the 



