50 



PLATE CCLXX. 



caufe-d much conflernation, according to the authors of that time; 

 M. Edvards in particular, gave a figure, and a fhort account of it 

 in his Hiftory of Birds, £Plate 208] under the name of Great 

 Brown Locuft. It is not certain that they have appeared, at lead 

 in confiderable numbers in this country, fince that period ; arid 

 it is probable, if any fpecimens of them were then colledled, they 

 are now loft ; for we have not hitherto been able to afcertain, pre- 

 cifely, an Englifh fpecitnen of it in any cabinet, and this confider- 

 ation alone, has induced us to defer adding this remarkable creature 

 to our illufliration of Briiilh Infeds. 



In the month of September, 1799, Lady Aylesfcrd moft 

 obligingly communicated a living fpecimen of it to us, and we deem 

 ourfelves particularly fortunate in the opportunity it affords us to 

 afcertain the difference, however inconfiderable, between the variety 

 found in England and thofe of warmer countries. It is reprefented 

 in the annexed plate, both in a refting poiition and with the wings 

 expanded. This fpecimen was found in a barley field near Pack- 

 ington in Warwickfhire. It lived feveral days after its arrival in 

 LfOndon, and would probably have furvived much longer had it not 

 been injured in the journey, and weakened by long confinement. 

 V/e remarked, that in feeding, it cuts the ftalk afunder in the 

 middle, or near the root, and tearing off the leaves, eats only the 

 pith ; this may, in fome meafure, account for the great mifchief and 

 depredation thefe creatures commit, when they fettle in vafl num.bers 

 on any tra6l of cultivated land. 



Though we regard the Gryllus Migratorius as an obje£l of ci:- 

 riofity in this country, in many others they are the terror of the inhabi- 

 tants. We are not, perhaps, to admit implicitly the relations of 

 all authors, but in thofe of credibility and information, we find 

 abundant reafon to hope it, may ever remain, as at prefent, a rare 

 Britifh fpecits. It is faid to be very numerous in Tartary, from 

 ■whence at certain periods it migrates weftward, and vifits the fouth of 

 Europe in incredible quantities. Of all the authors who have treated 

 on the hiftory of this Infe£l:, none are-more fatisfactory than Roefel; 



his 



I 



