OF INSECTS IN GENERAL* 
312 
leviating or preventing the numerous mifchiefs they oc- 
cafion. Infinite fwarms of thefe animals annually defo- 
late whole provinces , others attack our gardens and cul- 
tivated grounds, where they commit endlefs devaflations 
upon the corn, vegetables, and fruit trees. Nor are 
their depredations confined to the fields ; they enter the 
habitations of man, and by dellroying the timber, gra- 
dually reduce them to ruins. They deltroy his furniture 
and clothing ; fome of them fpare not even his per Ion* 
tormenting it long before the period which nature has 
deftined it to become their legitimate prey. Here, then* 
is a wide fiedd laid open for ftudy ; and the perfon who 
could inform mankind how to remove or alleviate thefe 
mifchiefs, would deferve better of his fpecies than if he 
had difeovered the longitude. 
Thus, by a clofer examination of the definitive powa 
ers of infefb, we fliall have melancholy proofs of their 
importance in the fyftem of nature, and be perfuaded, 
that however defpicable they may appear, there is no 
clafs of animals vvhofe hifiory more nearly concerns us, 
and which better del'erves the attention of the naturalifl. 
There are four different fpecies of the locuft which are 
remarkably deli motive. Almoll every year, whole pro- 
vinces, the molt fertile in Afia and Africa, are laid walte 
by their depredation. In Tunis and Algiers , l'warms of 
the grill us migratorius appear fo numerous, that they 
darken the face of the iky, like a thick cloud. Thefe 
pernicious animals are wafted there by the loutherly 
winds in the month of April : In May they take their 
departure for the interior parts of the country, to propa- 
gate their young ; thefe make their appearance in their 
larva (late, during the month of June, when they com- 
mit vafl depredations. The fir It columns, which pervade 
2 the 
