692 



ARTICULATA, 



did, A'ati/dld, Willi nn occasional reply of /Oitf/ didn't, Kat;/ didn't. This species is an inch and 



H half K)n<r, with wings of a pale-grccnish color. The song is produced by the rubbing together 



of the hanl glassy membranes at the base of each of the wing covers, with a saw-like motion. 



The 8ons;8 of otlier grasshoppers are produced in a similar manner. There are numerous other 



species of this family in our country. 



TIIK LOCUSTINA. 



These insects rcst-mbie some of the grasshoppers, but they may be distinguished from them by 

 the antennie, which are short, stout, and cylindrical, while those of the true grasshoppers are 

 vi-ry long, slender, and tapering to a fine point. 



In the Locitstina the tarsi are three-jointed, and the females have no apparent ovipositor. 



The head is usually furnished 

 with three ocelli. Few in- 

 sects are more dreaded by 

 the inhabitants of the warmer 

 regions of the earth than 

 these Locusts, which, from 

 their often collectinc: in vast 

 swarms, and moving onward 

 with a steady and irresistible 

 progress, quickly destroy 

 every trace of vegetation over 

 a vast extent of country, thus 

 reducing the husbandman to 

 despair, and converting the 

 smiling face of nature into a • 

 desolate wilderness. It was 

 this insect, which was sent 

 as one of the plagues of Egypt ; (Exodus, chap, x.) A district over which one of these dev- . 

 astating swarms has passed is said to appear, to the eye of an observer, as though every [ 

 vegetable production which once decked its surface had been completely burned off the ground ; 

 hence the Latin name of the insect, Locusta, from locus tistus, a burnt place, is peculiarly appro- 

 priate. Eastern countries, and especially those in the neighborhood of the Levant, appear to be 



most exposed to the ravages 

 i^.\-^^l\ -.aT -.'a'S.. ' . X of these destructive insects; 



and we find many highly poet- 

 ical references to them in the 

 writings of the Hebrew pro- 

 phets, Avherein this appearance 

 of burning is expressly men- 

 tioned. When the vegetation 

 of the place first devastated 

 by these creatures is entirely 

 destroyed, they take to flight r 

 in boundless multitudes to ' 

 some other devoted spot, often 

 formino- clouds of several hun- 

 dred yards across, which, in 

 their passage, sometimes con- 

 ceal the light of the sun. 

 When engaged in the work 



THE LOCUSTA CKISTATA. /. i , ^ • ^l "J 



01 destruction, they are said 

 to produce a sound resembling that of a strong flame driven by the wind, and the spot upon 

 which they have alighted is almost immediately denuded of every thing green. The descent 



