3128 Insects. 



ful, and to many very disagreeable. To me it was otherwise, and when I heard the 

 last note on the 25th of June, the melancholy reflection occurred — shall I live to hear 

 it again ? 



" Probably the first indication many persons will have of the approach of the lo- 

 custs, will be the industry with which they will find the hogs rooting up the ground 

 in the woods and fields. It is a great festival for them : and as soon as the insects 

 appear above ground, chickens, turkeys, and all poultry will also hare their feast. So 

 fond are all fowls of these insects, that they will scarcely touch other food during the 

 locust-season. This has a remarkable effect upon all hens' eggs laid after the locusts 

 appear — their yolks are nearly white. The chicken become very fat, and of fine fla- 

 vour. Even the little wren will be seen flying off with a locust in its mouth, and all 

 insectivorous birds have a great festival. 



" From the 1st to the 20th of June, all shrubbery of value should be protected, ei- 

 ther by covering it with cheap gauze, or in case of pot-plants, by keeping them in the 

 house. About the 15tb of June, the insects commence depositing their eggs ; and 

 about the 25th of June, the old locusts will have disappeared altogether." 



" In conclusion, people ought not to be alarmed. The insect has neither means 

 of offence nor defence, and all the stories told of children being killed by their sting or 

 bite are fabulous."— J. W. D. 



Entomological Localities. By J. W. Douglas, Esq. 



" Go with me ; if you like, upon report, 

 The soil, the profit, and this kind of life, 

 I will your very faithful feeder be." 



As You Like It. 



Charlton Pit. 



If I were a geologist, 1 should begin a notice of this locality by 

 speculating upon the various forces that have operated to place great* 

 depths of gravel upon still deeper strata of sand ; it must suffice to 

 say, that the soil was composed of sand and gravel ; the removal of 

 these during a long course of years has resulted in an excavation of 

 three or four acres area, covered with vegetation of various kinds, and 

 besides hosts of insects, is thickly strewed with the latest formation — 

 boys. " Jolly as a sand-boy " is a phrase of which I never knewthe 

 meaning until I went to Charlton, and saw the frolics of rolling, tum- 

 bling, jumping and roaring of the young humans congregated there, 

 whose maternal parents certainly must have been glad to think they 

 were out, even if they did not know where they were. Let it riot be 

 thought 1 wander from my subject by introducing these boys to no- 

 tice ; they cannot be separated from the entomology of the place, as 

 any one who goes there must test, very much to his annoyance or 



