440 



EXTINCTION OF SPECIES. 



[Ch. XLII 



female and all fertile, would in the next generation produce 



therefore, justly 



model" 



many 



800,000 caterpillars.-^ 



observes that, did not Providence put causes in operation to 

 keep them in due bounds, the caterpillars of this moth alone 

 leaving out of consideration the 2,000 other British species 

 might soon destro}^ more than half of our vegetation. 



In the latter part of the last century an ant most destruc- 

 tive to the sugar-cane {Formica saccharivora) , appeared in 

 such infinite hosts in the island of Granada, as to put a stop 

 to the cultivation of that vegetable. Their numbers were 

 incredible. The plantations and roads were filled with them • 



domestic quadrupeds, together with rats, mice, and 

 reptiles, and even birds, perished in consequence of this plague. 

 It was not till 1780 that they were at length annihilated by 

 torrents of rain, which accompanied a dreadful hurricane. f 



Devastations caused by locusts. — We may conclude by 

 mentioning some instances of the devastations of locusts in 

 various countries. Among other parts of Africa, Cyrenaica 

 has been at different periods infested by myriads of these 

 creatures which have consumed nearly every green thino-. 

 The effect of the havoc committed bvthem mavbe estimaterl 

 by the famine they occasioned, 

 plague of this kind in Africa which destroyed no less than 



I 



gustine mentions 



Massiniss 



more 



It is also 



related^ that in the je^v 591, an infinite armj of locusts mi- 

 grated from Africa into Italy ; and, after grievously ravaging 

 the country, were cast into the sea, when there arose a pesti- 



om their stench wldch carried off nearlv a million 



men 



more 



persons are said to have perished in a famine occa- 

 sioned by this scourge ; and other instances are recorded of 



rmany 



In 



Hun 



and India, and other countries, their visitations have been 

 periodically experienced. Although they have a preference for 



^ Reaumur, vol. ii. p. 337. 



t Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 183. 



XXX 



