THE LOCUST. M7 



there, from which dreadful consequences were apprehended; 

 but they were not followed by any numerous swarms. In the 

 United States, also, their visitations are rare, and they cause but 

 little damage. The annals, however, of most countries, are 

 marked with the devastations made by their devouring multi- 

 tudes ; and although they do not visit Europe in such destructive 

 swarms as formerly, yet, in some of the southern countries they 

 are still formidable. Those which at uncertain intervals have 

 visited that quarter of the globe are generally supposed to have 

 come from Africa. 



In several countries, the inhabitants endeavour to turn this 

 evil in some measure to their advantage. Locusts are eaten bv 

 the natives in some countries of the East, being caught in small 

 nets provided for that purpose. They parch them over the fire 

 in an earthen pan, and when their legs and wings are fallen off, 

 they turn reddish like boiled shrimps. Dampier, who had eaten 

 them thus prepared, describes them as a tolerable dish. They 

 appear to have constituted a considerable article of food, among 

 the ancient anchorites ; and John the Baptist is represented as 

 living, in a great measure, on locusts and wild honey. Such is 

 the history of this destructive insect, which, in scriptural lan- 

 guage, is so frequently made the emblem of invading armies, 

 and of extensive desolation. 



The hydra, or fresh-water polypus, which was first noticed by 

 Mr. Tremblay, A. D. 1741, may serve to give a general idea 

 of zoophites — an order of compound animals, furnished with a 

 kind of flowers, and having a vegetable root and stem. This 

 order, which naturalists have divided into fifteen genera, seems 

 to form that link in the chain of being which connects the ani- 

 mal and vegetable kingdoms. 



The hydra was at first considered as a mere plant ; but it was 

 soon discovered to be a sensitive being, and yet capable of 

 propagation by slips. Of this genus, various species are found 

 in different situations, in ditches and pools of stagnant water; 

 but all of them possess the property of reproduction in whatever 

 manner they are divided. If cut into three parts, each puts out 

 a head from one, and a tail from the other, so as to become 

 three distinct animals; all performing the functions of their 

 species, and exhibiting perfect copies of their original. Al- 

 though the different genera and species of insects which our eyes 

 can discover, are, as already observed, numeious beyond calcu- 

 lation ; and in their formation, their colours, and their habits, 

 various beyond all that fancy itself could conceive, yet there are 

 multitudes of others which cannot be perceived without the aid 

 of the microscope. There is also not the least reason to doubt 



