gryllus. m 
tit. Gryllus mutieus: thorax oblong-fquare, mar¬ 
gined ; thighs and (hanks with two rows of fpines; 
fword fmooth afcending, nearly as long as the abdomen. 
Inhabits out of Europe. 
122. Gryllus macropterus: thorax rounded; wings 
whitifli with brown lines, longer than the immaculate 
wing-cafes ; abdomen terminating in four threads ; hind- 
thighs beneath and four fore-fhanks with four rows of 
fpines. Inhabits out of Europe. 
123. Gryllus nigromaculatus: thorax rounded,fmooth; 
head and wing-cafes pale ; antennas very long ; wing- 
cafes greenifh-blue with feven tranfverfe rows of black 
waved fpots. Legs pale 5 fore (hanks long, fpinous. 
Inhabits out of Europe. 
124.. Gryllus teftaceus: teflaceous: abdomen be¬ 
neath and outer edge of the thorax yellow ; wing-cafes 
longer than the body; fword afcending, four-valved. 
Inhabits Europe, 
125. Gryllus fulvicornis : varied with brown and ci¬ 
nereous ; antennas yellowifli, as long as the body ; tho¬ 
rax flat, fubcarinate behind ; wing-cafes grey brown, 
with an obfolete row of pale dots; fword afcending. 
Inhabits Europe. 
126. Gryllus longicornis : thorax rounded, teflaceous 
above ; head green ; front pointed, teflaceous; anienma 
very long; wing-cafes teflaceous, half as long as the 
abdomen ; fword afcending, teflaceous, green at the 
bafe. Inhabits Europe. 
V. Gryllus. Antennas filiform; feelers Ample; 
tail Ample ; throat with a horn-like protuberance. In 
this divifion we have the mod formidable of the real 
locufts. The annals of moft of the warm countries are 
filled with accounts of the devaftations produced by lo- 
cufts, who fometimes make their appearance in clouds 
of vaft extent. They feldom vifit Europe in fuch 
(warms as formerly ; yet in the warmer parts of it are 
(till formidable. Thefe infedts are bred ifi the warm 
parts of Afia and Africa, from whence they have often 
taken their flight into Europe, where they committed 
terrible devaftations. They multiply fafter than any 
other animal in the creation, and are truly terrible in 
the countries where they breed. Some of them were 
feen in different parts of Britain in the year 1748, and 
great mifchiefs were apprehended ; but happily for us, 
the coldnefs of our climate, and the humidity of our 
foil, are very unfavourable to their production; fo that, 
as they are only animals of a year’s continuance, they 
all perifh without leaving a young generation to fucceed 
them. 
When the locufts take the field, it is faid they have a 
leader at their head, whofe flight they obferve, and pay 
a ftridt regard to all his motions. They appear at a 
diftance like a black cloud, which, as it approaches, 
gathers upon the horizon, and almoft hides the light of 
day. It often happens, that the huibandman fees this 
imminent calamity pafs away without doing him any 
mifchief; and the whole fwarm proceeds onward to fet¬ 
tle upon fome lefs fortunate country. In thole places, 
however, where they alight, they deftroy every green 
thing, dripping the trees of their leaves, as well as de¬ 
vouring the corn and grafs. In the tropical climates 
they are not fo pernicious as in the more fouthgrn parts 
of Europe. In the firft, the power of vegetation is fo 
ftrong, that an interval of three or four-days repairs the 
damage; but in Europe this cannot be done till next 
year. Befides, in their long flights to this part of the 
world, they are famiftied by the length of their journey, 
and are therefore more voracious wherever they happen 
to fettle. But as much damage is occafioned by what 
they deftroy, as by what they devour. Their bite is 
thought to contaminate the plant, and either to deftroy 
or greatly to weaken its vegetation. To ufe the expref- 
Aon of the hufbandmen, they burn whatever they touch, 
and leave the marks of their devaftation for three or 
/four years enfuing. When dead, they infedt the air in 
Vdt. IX. No. 565. 
fuch a manner that the flench is itifupportable.—Oro. 
fius.tells us, that in the year of the world 3800, Africa 
was infefted with a multitude of locufts. After havmg 
eaten up every thing that was green, they flew off and 
were drowned in the fea; where they caufed fucii a 
flench as could not have been equalled by the putrefy¬ 
ing carcafes of 100,000 men. 
In the year 1650, a cloud of locufts was feen to enter 
Ruflia in three different places: and from thence they 
fpread themfelves over Poland and Lithuania in fuch 
aftonifliing multitudes, that the air was darkened and 
the earth covered with their numbers. In fome places 
they were feen lying dead, heaped upon each other to 
the depth of four feet; in others, they covered the fur- 
face like a black cloth ; the trees bent with their weighty 
and the damage which the country fuftained exceeded 
computation. 
In Barbary, their numbers are formidable ; and Dr. 
Shaw was a witnefs of their devaftations there in 1724* 
Their firft appearance was in the latter end of March, 
when the wind had been foutherly for fome time. In 
the beginning of April, their numbers were fo vaftly 
increafed, that, in the heat of the day, they formed 
themfelves into large fwarms that appeared like clouds, 
and darkened the fun. In the middle of May they be¬ 
gan to difappear, retiring into the plains to depofit 
their eggs. In June the young brood began to make 
their appearance, forming many compact bodies of fe- 
veral hundred yards fquare ; which afterwards march¬ 
ing forward, climbed the trees, walls, and houfcs, eat¬ 
ing every thing that was green in their way. The in¬ 
habitants, to (top their progress, laid trenches all over 
their fields and gardens, which they filled with water. 
Some placed large quantities of heath, ftubble, and 
fuch-like combuftible matter, in rows, and fet them on 
fire on the approach of the locufts. But all this was to 
no purpofe; for the trenches were quickly filled up, 
and the fires put out by the great numbers of fwarm.s 
that fucceeded each other. A day or two after one of 
thefe was in motion, others that were juft hatched came 
to glean after them, gnawing off the young branches, 
and the very bark of the trees. Having lived near a 
month in this manner, they arrived at their full growth, 
and threw off their worm-like ftate, by cafting their 
fkins. To prepare themfelves for this change,, they 
fixed their hinder part to fome bufh or twig, or coiner 
of a ftone, when immediately, by an undulating motioiv 
ufed on this occafion, their heads would firft' appear, 
and foon after the reft of their bodies. The whole 
transformation was performed in feven or eight minutes 
time, after which they remained for little while in a 
languifhing condition ; but as foon as the fun and air 
had hardened their wings, and dried up the moifture 
that remained after cafting off their (loughs, they re¬ 
turned to their former greedinefs, with an addition both, 
of ffrength and agility. But they did not long continue 
in this ftate before they were entirely difperfed. After 
laying their eggs, they~dire£ted their courfe northward, 
and probably periftied in the fea. In that country, 
however, the-amazing fertility of the foil and warmnefs 
of the climate generally render the depredations of thefe 
infedls of little confequence ; befides that many circum- 
ftances concur to diminiih their number. Though na¬ 
turally herbivorous, they often fight with each other, 
and the vidtor devours the vanquiflied. They are the 
prey, too, of ferpents, lizards, frogs, and the carnivo¬ 
rous birds. They have been found in the ftomachs of 
the eagle and different kinds of owls. They are alfo 
ufed as food by the Moors ; who go to hunt them, fry 
them in oil or butter, and fell them publicly at Tunis 
and other places. 
From a paper publiftied in the iSth vol. of the Phi- 
lofophical Tranfadtions, we find, that in the year 1693 
fome fwarms of locufts fettlcdin fome parts of Wales. 
Two vaft-fiights were oWerved in the air not far from 
P -the 
