THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
17 
The ancient history of Italy, presents wonder- 
ful events and great characters : we hail the 
phoemx like resuscitation after having been for 
centuries the terre des morts , and her consolidation 
under the wise sceptre of the House of Savoy 
was an unquestionable boon to Europe; nor 
need Italy return to the past, for under the ins- 
piration of diffused education and civil and relL 
gious liberty, a far higher civilizaton is before her. 
What colossal progress has not France made in 
the course of this century? Never let ns forget 
what she formerly was, the unparalleled diffi- 
culties she had to contend with on account of rc° 
p eated invasion of her territory, however true it 
may be that she it was who provoked it through 
fault of her own. 
Yet her people have surmounted every barrier; 
their activity and perseverance are phenomenal: 
the manufactures, agriculture, and commerce of 
the country have developed in an incredible man- 
ner; within the memory of the inhabitants Paris, 
.as well as all of the great provincial cities, have 
been rebuilt and modernized, and the port of 
Marseilles, with its cosmopolitan thousands, pre- 
sents much analogy to that of Liverpool. But 
let it be confessed that the Frenchman, who takes 
more delight in the theatre and coffee house than 
in his home, is not a good colonist, nor ever will 
be until social welfare and order replace politics 
in his preoccupations, and until his habits become j 
more domesticated. j 
Spain closes the periplus. The Phoenicians early 
knew her geographical importance, when they j 
founded Cadiz (Cadiz) as the western port of call ; 
Carthagena recalls Carthage ; Palos brings back all j 
our recollections of Columbus and his great Span- j 
ish protectors.. Brilliant has been the history of j 
Spain on several occasions; her people are chival- 
rous; her immense natural resources are still und- | 
eveloped, and the country which once stood before j 
England as regards her colonies has need of closer 
contact with her northern neighbours, from whom 
she may yet learn some useful lessons, recognising, 
above all things that the Middle Ages are gone for- 
ever. But the Mediterranean is also studded with 
countless gems of various sizes in the shape of 
islands, and the little one in its very centre — 
Malta— may be considered the most precious of all ! 
Turin, W. Jervis, 
The locust plague in Egypt & Algeria. 
The raids made by the locusts on the sugar, 
maize, and cotton crops in Upper and Lower 
Egypt, Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis are now as- 
suming most serious proportions, and have alrea- 
dy caused irremediable loss both to the govern- 
ments of the districts and to a large number of 
growers and mercantile firms. 
No visitation for the past 40 years has created 
such widespread devastation, as has the present 
one. From the reports, that have been sent in, it 
seems that the principal part of the mischief is 
due to two species of the insect, Acridium peregri - 
num and Stauronctus maraceanus , the former of 
which is supposed to be the locust of the bibie. 
Both species periodically invade Algeria from 
the direction of the Sahara where they breed in 
the more barren and elevated parts of the desert. 
There, in the verdureless and friable soil, the fe- 
male bores a number of small holes with her ovi- 
positor, ands lays in them in agglutinated masses, 
the eggs, from which the coming generation 
is to be produced. As a rule the eggs take 
about one month to hatch. Upon emerging from 
the egg the young locust feeds voraciously upon 
whafhever plant life may be within reach, and 
after about two months, it developes wings and 
migrates in swarms to other and more fertile 
regions. 
The vigorous steps for their extermination that 
have been initiated by the Government and that 
have been carried out by the provincial Mudirs 
have this year been of but little avail, and it is 
feared that, unless more stringent and effective 
measures are adopted before next season, that the 
number of eggs that will have been deposited in 
the fertile regions, will be the cause of even a more 
serious visitation next year. 
Becent researches of G. B. Schiaparelli 
made at Milan University. 
Schiapparelli has overcome the difficulties of 
observing the rotation and physical condition of 
the planet Mercury, that are due to its proximity 
to the sun and to the fact that it can only be ob- 
orved in full daylight and through an atmosphere 
