54 
G K Y 1 
the town of Dol-galken in Merionethfhire ; the others 
fell in Pembrokeftiire. From a letter publithed in the 
38th volume of the fame work, it appears that fome 
parts of Germany, particularly the March of Branden- 
burgh, &c. fuffered confideiable.injury from the depre¬ 
dations of thefe animals. They made their appearance 
in the fpring of the year 1732, from flights which had 
depofited their eggs in the ground the preceding year. 
They attacked and devoured the young fpike of the 
wheat, and this chiefly by night, and thus laid wade 
many acres at a-time beyond all hope of recovery. In 
the 46th vol. of the fame Tranfaftions, we find a de- 
fcription of the ravages of thefe animals in Wallachia, 
Moldavia, Tranfylvania, Hungary, and Poland, in the 
years 1747 and 1748. 
“The firfi fwa'rms entered into Tranfylvania in Ati- 
guft 1747 ; thefe were fucceeded by others, which were 
fo furprifingiy numerous, that when they reached the 
Red Tower, they were full four hours in their paffage 
over that place; and they flew fo clofe that they made 
a fort of noife in the air by the beating of their wings 
againft one another. The width of the fwarm was fome 
hundreds of fathoms, and its height or denfity may be 
eafily imagined to be more confiderable, inafmuch as 
they hid the fun, and darkened the (ky, even to that de¬ 
gree, when they flew low, that people could not know 
one another at the diftanceof twenty paces; but, whereas 
they were to fly over a river that runs in the valleys of 
the Red Tower, and could find neither refting-piace nor 
food; being at length tired with their flight, one part 
of them lighted on the unripe corn on this fide of the 
Red Tower, fuch as millet, Turkilh wheat, &c. ano¬ 
ther pitclied on a low wood, where, having miferably 
■wafted tlie produce of the land, they continued their 
journey, as if a fignal had actually been given for a 
march. The guards of the Red Tower,attempted to 
flop their irruption into Tranfylvania by firing at them; 
and, indeed, where the balls and (hot fwept through the 
fwarm, they gave way and divided; but, having filled 
up their raiiks in a moment, they proceeded on their 
journey. In the month of September fome troops of 
them were thrown to the : ground by great rains and 
other incleme'ncy of the weather, and, thoroughly foaked 
witlvwet, tliey crept along in queft of holes in the earth, 
dung, and ftraw-; where, being fheltered from the rains, 
they laid a va-ft number of eggs, which ftuck together 
by a vifcid jurce, and were longer and fmaller than what 
is commonly called an ant’s egg, v-ery like grains of oats. 
The females, having laid their eggs,, c^ie, like the filk- 
worm ; and we Tranfylvanians found by experience, that 
the fwarm which entered our fields by the Red Tower 
did not feem to intend remaining there, but were thrown 
to the ground by the force or the wind, and there laid 
their eggs; a vaft number of which being turned up and 
crufhed by the plough in the beginning of the enfu- 
ing fpring., yielded a yellow!fh juice. In the fpring of 
2748, certain little blackilh worms were feen lying in 
the fields'and among the bullies, (ticking together, and 
colleded in cl.ufters,- not unlike the hillocks of piole’s or 
ants. As nobody knew what they were, fo there was 
little or no notice taken of them, and in May they were 
covered by the (hooting- of the corn fown in winter; but 
the fhbfequent June dilcovered what thole worms were; 
for then, a-s the corn fown in fpring was pretty high, 
•thefe creatures began to (pread over the fields, and be¬ 
come de-ftrudive to the. vegetables by their numbers. 
Then at length the country people, who had flighted' 
the warning given them, began to repent of their negli¬ 
gence; for as thefe jnfeds were now difperfed all over 
the fields, they could not be extirpated without injuring 
the corn. At that time they differed little, or nothing 
from our common grafshoppers, haying their head, fiats, 
jand back, of a dark colour, with a yellow beily, and the 
reft of a readifh hue. About the middle of June, ac- 
a prding as they were hatched fooner or later, they were 
,LUS, 
generally a finger’s length, or fomewhat longer, but their 
(hape and colour ftill continued. Towards the end of 
June they caft off their outward covering, and then it 
plainly appeared that they had wings, "very like the 
wings of bees, but as yet unripe and unexpanded ; and 
then their body was very tender, and of a yellowifh 
green ; in order to render themfelves fit for flying, they 
gradually unfolded their wings with their hinder feet, 
as flies do, and as foon as any of them found themfelves 
able to ufe their wings, they feared up, and by flying 
round the others, enticed them to join them ; and thus, 
their numbers increafing daily, they took circular flights 
of twenty or thirty yards-fquare, until they were joined 
by the reft; and after miferably laying wafte their na¬ 
tive fields, they proceeded elfewhere in large troops. 
Wherefoever thofe troop's happened to pitch, they fpared 
no fort of vegetable: they ate up the young <rorn, and 
the very grafs ; but nothing was more difmal than to be¬ 
hold the lands in which they were hatched; for they fo 
greedily devoured' every green thing thereon, before 
they could fly, that they left the ground quite bare. 
“ There is nothing to be feared in thofe places to 
which this plague did not reach before the autumn; for 
the locufts have not ftrength to fly to any confiderable 
diftance but in the months of July, Auguft, and the be¬ 
ginning of September; and even then, in changing tlieir 
places of refidence, they feem to tend to warmer cli¬ 
mates. 
“ Different methods are to be employed againft them, 
according to their age and ftate ; for fome will be effec¬ 
tual as foon as they are hatched ; others when they be¬ 
gin to crawl; and others, in fine, when they begin to 
fly ; and experience has taught 11s here in Tranfyivaniaj 
that it would have been of great fervice to have dili¬ 
gently fought out the places where the females lodged ; 
for nothing was mbre eafy than carefully to vifit thofe 
places in March and April, and to deftioy their eggs or 
little worms with flicks or briars ; or if they were not to 
be beat out of the bu flies, dunghills, or heaps of ftraw, 
to fet- fire to them; and this method would have been 
very eafy, convenient, and fuqcefsful, as it has been 
in other places; but in tlie funtmer, after they have 
marched out of their fpring-quarters, and have invaded 
tlie corn-fields, &c. it is almoft impoflible to extirpate 
them without thoroughly threfhing the whole piece of 
land that harbours them with (ticks or flails; and thus 
crufhing the locuft with the produce of the land. Fi¬ 
nally, when the corn is ripe, or nearly fp, we have 
found, to our great lofs, that there is no other method 
of getting rid of them, ox even of diminifliing their num¬ 
bers, but to furround the piece of ground with a mul¬ 
titude of people, who. might fright them away with 
bells, brafs veifels, and all other forts of noife. But 
even this method will not fucceed till the fun is pretty 
high, fo as to dry tlie corn from the dew ; for otherwife 
they will either, (tick to the (talks, or lie hid under the 
grafs; but when they happen to be driven to a wafte 
piece of ground, they are to be beat .with (ticks or 
briars; and if they gather together in heaps, ftraw or 
litter may be thrown over them and fet on fire. Now 
this method feems rather to leffen their numbers than 
•totally deftroy them; for many of them lurk under the 
grafs cr thick corn,, and in the fiffures of the ground, 
from tfie fun’s heat: wherefore it is requifite to repeat 
this operation feveral times, in order to diminifh their 
numbers, and cbiifequentky the damage done by them. 
It will likewife be of ufe, yfherea large troop of them 
has pitched, to dig a iolig' trench', of an ell width and 
depth, and place .feveral perfons along its edges, pro¬ 
vided with b.roouis and fuch.like things, while another 
numerous fet 6f people fofni’.a. feifticircle that takes in 
both ends' of the trench, and encompaffes the locufts, 
and, by making the'n'oife above-mentioned, drive them 
into the trenefij’'oijt or which if they attempt to efeape, 
thofe on the ’ed^es are to' fweep them back, and then 
