With them wherever they pafs, and in the fhort fpac£ 

 of a few hours change the moll fertile provinces into 

 the appearance of a barren defart ; while the air is 

 darkened by their numbers. Nay even when dead 

 they are ftill terrible, flnce the putrefaction which ari- 

 fes from their inconceivable number, is fuch that it has 

 been regarded as one of the principal caufes of a be- 

 ginning peftilence. There are a great many different 

 i|>ecies of locufts. One of the moft deftructive is the 

 Gryllus Migratorius of Linnaeus, or the Wandering 

 Locuft, here reprefented. It is generally of a brownifh 

 color, varied with fpots of a deeper caft, and in fome 

 parts with pale red or flefh-color, and the legs are 

 commonly blueifh. In the year 1748 this fpecies ap- 

 peared in irregular flights in feveral parts of Europe 5 

 as in Germany, France, and England, and in London 

 in particular, and. its neighbourhood, great numbers 

 were feen : they perifhed however in a fhort time, and 

 were not productive of any mifchief. The largeft fpe- 

 cies of locuft yet known is the Gryllus Criftatus of 

 Limn^us, which is five or fix times as large as the fpe- 

 cies jufl defcribed ; and which, together with fome 

 other of the larger kind, is made ufe of in fome parts 

 of the world as an article of food. They are eaten both 

 frefti and falted, in which laft ftafe they are publickly 

 fold in the markets in fome parts of the Levant. 

 The quantity of edible fubftance which they afford is 

 but fmall, efpecially in the male infects ; but the fe- 

 males, on account of the ovaries, afford a more nutri- 

 tious fuftenance. - It is well known that different in- 

 terpretations have fometimes been given of the pafFage 



in 



