GltYLLUS. 
France, and England ; and in the capital 
itself, and its neighbourhood, great numbers 
were seen : they perished, however, in a 
short time, and were happily not productive 
of any material mischief, having been pro- 
bably driven by some irregular wind out 
of their intended course, and weakened by 
the coolness of our climate. The ravages 
of locusts in various parts of the world, at 
different periods, are recorded by numerous 
authors. In the year 593 of the Christian 
era, after a great drought, these animals 
appeared in such vast legions as to cause a 
famine in many countries. In 677, Syria 
and Mesopotamia were overrun by them. 
In 852, immense swarms took their flight 
from the eastern regions into the west, fly- 
ing with such a sound that they might have 
been mistaken for birds: they destroyed 
all vegetables, not sparing even the bark of 
trees and the thatch of houses ; and devour- 
ed the corn so rapidly as to destroy, on 
computation, a hundred and forty acres in 
a day : their daily marches, or distances, of 
flight were computed at twenty miles; 
and these were regulated by leaders or 
kings, who flew first and settled on the 
spot which was to be visited at the same 
hour the next day by the whole legion : 
these marches were always undertaken 
at sun-rise. The locusts were at length 
driven, by the force of winds, into the Bel- 
gic Ocean, and being thrown back by the 
tide and left on the shores, caused a dread- 
ful pestilence by their smell. In 1271, all^ 
the corn-fields of Milan were destroyed ; 
and in the year 1339, all those of Lom- 
bardy. In 1541, incredible hosts afflicted 
Poland, Wallachia, and all the adjoining 
territories, darkening the sun with their 
numbers, and ravaging all the fruits of the 
earth. 
2. One of the largest species of locust 
yet known is tiie gryllus eristatus of Lin- 
naeus, which is five or six times the size of 
the gryllus migratorius ; and, together with 
some others of the larger kind, is made use 
of in various parts of the world as an arti- 
cle of food. The gryllus eristatus is a highly 
beautiful animal; being ot a bright red, 
with the body annulated with black, and 
the legs varied with yellow ; the upper 
wings tesselated with alternate variegations 
of dark and pale green ; the lower with 
transverse undulated streaks ; the length of 
the animal from head to tail is about four 
inches ; and the expanse of wings from tip 
to tip}. when fully extended, hardly less than 
seven inches and a half. 
3. The gryllus virldissimus of Linnaeus, is 
one of the largest European species, and is 
often seen during the decline of summer in 
our own country. It is wholly of a pale grass- 
green, with a slight blueish cast on the head 
and under part of the thorax, which is 
marked above by a longitudinal reddish- 
brown line ; /the length of the insect from 
the mouth to the tips of the wings is about 
two inches and a half : the female is distin- 
guished by a long sword-shaped process at 
the end of the body, being the instrument 
with which she pierces the ground in order 
to deposit her eggs ; it consists of a pair of 
valves, through the whole length of which 
the eggs are protruded ; they are of an ob- 
long form, and of a pale brown colour. 
4. The gryllus gryllotalpa, or mole- 
cricket, is by far the most curious ; and in 
its colour and manners differs greatly from 
the rest. It is of an uncouth and even for- 
midable aspect, measuring more than two 
inches in length, and is of a broad and 
slightly flattened shape, of a dusky brown' 
colour, with a ferruginous cast on the under 
parts, and is readily distinguished by the 
extraordinary structure of its fore legs, 
which are excessively strong, and furnished 
with very broad feet, divided into several 
sharp claw-sliaped segments, with which it 
is enabled to burrow under ground in the 
manner of a mole ; the lower wings, which 
when expanded are very large, are, in their 
usual state, so complicated under the very 
short and small upper wings, or sheaths, 
that their ends alone appear reaching, in a 
sharpened form, along the middle ot the 
back ; the abdomen is terminated by a pair 
of sharp pointed, lengthened, hairy pro- 
cesses, nearly equalling the length of the 
antennae in front, and contributing to give 
this auinial an appearance, in some degree, 
similar to that of a blatta. The mole- 
cricket emerges from its subterraneous 
retreats only by night, when it creeps about 
the surface, and occasionally employs its 
wings in flight. It prepares for its eggs an 
oval nest, measuring about two inches in its 
longest diameter ; the eggs are about two 
hundred and fifty or three hundred in num- 
ber, nearly round, of a deep brownish-yel- 
low colour, and of the size of common shot : 
on the approach of winter, or any great 
change of weather, these insects are said to 
remove the nest, by sinking it deeper, so as 
to secure it from the power of frost ; and 
when the spring commences again raising it 
in proportion to the warmth of the season, 
till at length it is brought so hear the sur- 
