APPENDIX VI. 
ON THE FLIGHT OF LOCUSTS. 
[From the Atti del Keal Istituto d'lneoraggianiento alle Scienze Naturali di Napoli, tomo 1, pp. 233-269, 
' Naples, 1811.] 
Translated by P. P. Spofford. 
[Part of a memoir presented to the Instituto November 5, 1809, by Gaetano do Lucretiis.] 
Among the innumerable injuries to which the industries of the country are subject, 
one of the most destructive is the incalculable multiplicity of little animals and insects, 
the most pestilent element in animated nature, each of which, taken separately, is but 
a feeble and despicable thing, but which, through their excessive multiplication and 
surprising voracity, become a most pernicious pest, and a real public scourge, capable 
of rendering uninhabitable an entire canton. The extraordinary mildness of the win- 
ters, and tho absence of tbat rigor of cold which belongs to that season, unhappily favor 
the generation and development of little animals, and especially of insects; so that in 
some places their multiplication much exceeds the limits of tho ordinary year. But 
these insects are by no means all equally noxious. The great swarms of bees, of hor- 
nets, of wasps, and the clouds of gnats and midges and other similar insects, are rather 
annoying thau injurious. Nearly the same may be said of the legions of ants, of butter- 
flies, and of beetles which make their appearance in spring and autumn. But desola 
tiou is brought upon agricultural industry by the ravages of gnawing mice, of devour- 
ing worms, consuming the buds of t he vine, of mites or weevils, destroying both grains 
and vegetables, and of so many other noxious animals and iusects which spring up in 
the heart of our country and' lay waste the wheat, oats, barley, vines, leguminous 
plants, and esculents. Italy suffers also the calamity of seeing countless legions of 
foreign insects, which abandon from time to time the deserts of Tartary and of Arabia, 
cross"swiftly over to the shores of Italy, and, like hordes of invading armies or barbar- 
ous conquerors, despoil the earth over which they march, rob it of its fertility, leaving 
desolation in their track, and reducing whole populations lo the horrors of misery and 
of famine. Thus they devour the produce both of sown ground and of meadows, and 
render the country a sterile waste, incapable of sustaining men or domestic animals 
with necessary food. Thus the locusts, vulgarly named Druchi, have for years invaded 
the most fertile provinces of our kingdom. This is no now calamity for Italy, as Pliny 
records similar visitations in his day. - 
The cradle of the locust (Grillus migratoriua Lin.), according to French naturalists, 
was Tartary and Arabia; but sometimes they abandon their native habitat, and come 
in swarms of emigrants to carry desolation and terror over Europe, and especially in 
our southern latitudes. The east winds appear to favor the flight of these exterminat- 
ing hordes, composed usually of an incalculable number of individuals, which is con- 
firmed by the testimony of that accurate observer Adanson in his voyage to Senegal, 
who records the following concerning the emigrations of this insect near the river 
Gambia, in Africa.* Ho says: 
"At about eight o'clock in the morning, in the month of February, a dense cloud 
suddenly came up over us, darkening the air, and even shutting out the rays of the 
sun. I observed that this phenomenon was caused by a swarm of locusts rising about 
180 feet from the earth, and spreading over an extent of many leagues; finally, an 
immense quantity of these insects came showering down with a rattling noise upon 
the earth, devouring whatever of verdure was found, and then resuming their flight. 
This swarm was blown along by a strong, gusty wind from tho east, continuing all 
day, and spreading over the whole country adjacent." 
Theso regions suffered the last great devastation from this source in the year 17f>8. 
Their arrival is heralded by a dull sound produced by the agitation of their wings, 
and the obscuration of the sun announces their impeuding fall upon the fields; and 
woo to the land where they light for repose from the fatigues of their journey, which 
frequently comprises 30 miles a day. The most fertile country after one of their visits 
exhibits the aspect of a melancholy desert. 
*The insect Adanson saw was evidently A. percgrinum and not P. migratorius.—C. Thomas. 
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