zoology, the name of the cricket and locust kinds, which, together with the grasshoppers, make only one genus of insects, belonging to the order of hemiptera. The general characters of the genus are these: The head is inflected, armed with jaws, and furnished with palpi; the antennae in some of the species are setaceous, in others filiform; the wings are deflected towards and wrapped round the sides of the body; the under ones are folded up, so as to be concealed under the elytra. All the feet are armed with two nails; and the hind ones are formed for leaping. The genus is subdivided into five different sections, or families, as follows:

I. The Acridæ, Truxalides of Fabricius, or Cricket family properly so called; of which the characters are: Their head is of a conical form, and longer than the thorax; and their antennæ are ensiform, or sword-shaped. Of this family there are eight species, none of them found in Britain.

II. The Bullæ, or Acridia of Fabricius: These are are distinguished by a kind of crest or elevation on the thorax; their antennae are shorter than the thorax, and filiform; and their palpi are equal.—The gryllus bulla-bipunctatus is of a dark-brown colour; sometimes besprinkled with spots of a lighter hue. But the chief and most obvious distinction of this species is the form of its thorax, which is prolonged, covering the whole body, and decreases to the extremity of the abdomen. This prolongation of the thorax stands instead of elytra, of which this insect is destitute. It has only wings under this projection of the thorax. Linnaeus mentions a spot in the thorax; which, however, is often wanting. This species is every where to be met with, in the fields, in woods, &c. There are 10 or 11 other species, inhabitants of Europe and America.

III. The third family, called ACHEAE, are distinguished by two bristles, situated above the extremity of their abdomen; by having three sternata; and by the tarsi being composed of three articulations. This family is in many places called Cricket, on account of the sound which the insect makes. There are 28 species enumerated in the new edition of the Sylva Natura; of which the most remarkable are,

1. The gryllus domesticus, or the domesticus and campestris, the domestic and the field gryllus being one and the same species; only that the former is paler and has more of the yellow cast, and the latter more of a brown. The antennae are as slender as a thread, and nearly equal to the body in length. The head is large, and round, with two large eyes, and three smaller ones of a light yellow colour, placed higher on the edge of the depression, from the centre of which originate the antennae: The thorax is broad and short. In the males, the elytra are longer than the body, veined, as it were rumpled on the upper part, crooked one over the other, and enfolding part of the abdomen, with a projecting angle on the sides: They have also at their base a pale coloured band. In the females, the elytra leave one-third of the abdomen uncovered, and scarcely cross each other; and they are all over of one colour, veined and not rumpled; nor do they wrap round so much of the abdomen underneath. The female, moreover, carries at the extremity of its body a hard spine, almost as long as the abdomen, thicker at the end, composed of two sheaths, which encompass two laminae: This implement serves the insect to sink and deposit its eggs in the ground. Both the male and female have two pointed soft appendices at the extremity of the abdomen. Their hinder feet are much larger and longer than the rest, and serve them for leaping.

Towards sunset is the time the field gryllus, or cricket as it often called, likes best to appear out of its subterraneous habitation. In White's Natural History of Selborne †, a very pleasing account is given of the manners and economy of these insects; which, however, are so shy and cautious, he observes, that it is no easy matter to get a sight of them; for, feeling a person's footsteps as he advances, they stop short in the midst of their song, and retire backward nimbly into their burrows, where they lurk till all suspicion of danger is over. At first it was attempted to dig them out with a spade, but without any great success; for either the bottom of the hole was inaccessible from its terminating under a great stone; or else, in breaking up the ground, the poor insect was inadvertently squeezed to death. Out of one so bruised a multitude of eggs were taken, which were long and narrow, of a yellow colour, and covered with a very tough skin. More gentle means were then used, and proved successful: "a pliant stalk of grass, gently introduced into the caverns, will probe their windings to the bottom, and quickly bring out the inhabitant; and thus the humane inquirer may gratify his curiosity without injuring the object of it. It is remarkable, that though these insects are furnished with long legs behind, and brawny thighs for leaping, like grasshoppers; yet when driven from their holes they show no activity, but crawl along in a shiftless manner, so as easily to be taken; and again, tho' provided with a curious apparatus of wings, yet they never exert them when there seems to be the greatest occasion. The males only make that shrilling noise perhaps out of rivalry and emulation, as is the case with many animals which exert some frightfully note during their breeding time: it is raised by a brisk friction of one wing against the other. They are solitary beings, living singly male or female, each as it may happen; but there must be a time when the sexes have some intercourse, and then the wings may be useful perhaps during the hours of night. When the males meet they will fight fiercely, as our author found by some which he put into the crevices of a dry stone wall, where he wanted to have made them settle. For though they seemed distressed by being taken out of their knowledge, yet the first that got possession of the chinks would seize on any that were obstructed upon them with a vast row of serrated fangs. With their strong jaws, toothed like the shears of a lobster's claws, they perforate and round their curious regular cells, having no fore-claws to dig, like the mole-cricket. When taken in the hand, they never offered to defend themselves, though armed with such formidable weapons. Of such herbs as grow before the mouths of their burrows they eat indiscriminately; and on a little platform, which they make just by, they drop their dung; and never, in the daytime, seem to stir more than two or three inches from home. Sitting in the entrance of their caverns they chirp all night as well as day from the middle of the month of May to the middle of July; in hot weather, when they are most vigorous, they make the hills echo; and in the stiller hours of darkness, may be heard to a considerable distance. In the beginning of the season their notes are more faint and inward; but become louder as the summer advances, and so die away again by degrees.—Sounds do not always give us pleasure according to their sweetness and melody; nor do harsh sounds always displease. We are more apt to be captivated or disgusted with the associations which they promote, than with the notes themselves. Thus the shrilling of the field-cricket, though sharp and stridulous, yet marvellously delights some hearers, filling their minds with a train of summer ideas of everything that is rural, verdurous, and joyous. About the tenth of March the crickets appear at the mouths of their cells, which they then open and bore, and shape very elegantly. All that ever I have seen at that season were in their pupa state, and had only the rudiments of wings, lying under a skin or coat, which must be cast before the insect can arrive at its perfect state; from whence I should suppose that the old... old ones of last year do not always survive the winter. In August their holes begin to be obliterated, and the insects are seen no more till spring.—Not many summers ago I endeavoured to transplant a colony to the terrace in my garden, by boring deep holes in the sloping turf. The new inhabitants flaid some time, and fed and fung; but wandered away by degrees, and were heard at a farther distance every morning; so that it appears that on this emergency they made use of their wings in attempting to return to the spot from which they were taken.—One of these crickets, when confined in a paper cage and set in the sun, and supplied with plants moistened with water, will feed and thrive, and become so merry and loud as to be irksome in the same room where a person is sitting: if the plants are not wetted, it will die.

The domestic gryllus, or hearth-cricket, as it is called, does not require it to be bought after abroad for examination, nor is fly like the other sort: it resides altogether within our dwellings, intruding itself upon our notice whether we will or no. It delights in new built houses; being, like the spider, pleased with the moisture of the walls; and besides, the softness of the mortar enables them to burrow and mine between the joints of the bricks or stones, and to open communications from one room to another. They are particularly fond of kitchens and bakers ovens, on account of their perpetual warmth. "Tender insects that live abroad either enjoy only the short period of one summer, or else doze away the cold uncomfortable months in profound slumber; but these (our author observes), residing as it were in a torrid zone, are always alert and merry: a good Christmas fire is to them like the heats of the dog-days. Though they are frequently heard by day, yet is their natural time of motion only in the night. As soon as it grows dark, the chirping increases, and they come running forth, and are from the size of a flea to that of their full stature. As one should suppose, from the burning atmosphere which they inhabit, they are a thirsty race, and show a great propensity for liquids, being found frequently drowned in pans of water, milk, broth, or the like. Whatever is moist they affect; and therefore often gnaw holes in wet woollen stockings and aprons that are hung to the fire. These crickets are not only very thirsty, but very voracious; for they will eat the scumnings of pots; yeast, salt, and crumbs of bread; and any kitchen offal or sweepings. In the summer we have observed them to fly, when it became dark, out of the windows, and over the neighbouring roofs. This feat of activity accounts for the sudden manner in which they often leave their haunts, as it does for the method by which they come to houses where they were not known before. It is remarkable, that many sorts of insects seem never to use their wings but when they have a mind to shift their quarters and settle new colonies. When in the air they move "volatim undulo," in waves or curves, like wood-peckers, opening and shutting their wings at every stroke, and so are always rising or sinking.—When they increase to a great degree, as they did once in the house where I am now writing, they become noisome pests, flying into the candles, and dashing into people's faces; but may be blasted by gunpowder discharged into their crevices and crannies. In families, at such times, they are, like Pharaoh's plague of frogs,—'in their bedchambers, and upon their beds, and in their ovens, and in their kneading-troughs.' Their shrilling noise is occasioned by a brisk attrition of their wings. Cats catch hearth-crickets, and playing with them as they do with mice, devour them. Crickets may be destroyed, like wasps, by phials half filled with beer, or any liquid, and set in their haunts; for being always eager to drink, they will crowd in till the bottles are full." A popular prejudice, however, frequently prevents their being driven away and destroyed: the common people imagine that their presence brings a kind of luck to the house while they are in it, and think it would be hazardous to destroy them.

2. Gryllus gryllotalpa, or mole cricket, is of a very unpleasant form. Its head, in proportion to the size of its body, is small and oblong, with four long thick palpi, and two long antennae slender as threads. Behind the antennae are situated the eyes, and between those two eyes are seen three stemmata or lesser eyes, amounting to five in all, set in one line transversely. The thorax forms a kind of cuirass, oblong, almost cylindrical, which appears as it were velvety. The elytra, which are short, reach but to the middle of the abdomen, are crossed one over the other, and have large black or brown nervous fibres. The wings terminate in a point, longer not only than the elytra, but even than the abdomen. This latter is soft, and ends in two points or appendices of some length. But what constitutes the chief singularity of this insect are its fore-feet, that are very large and flat, with broad legs, ending outwardly in four large serrated claws, and inwardly in two only; between which claws is situated, and often concealed, the tarsus. The whole animal is of a brown dusky colour. It haunts moist meadows, and frequents the sides of ponds and banks of streams, performing all its functions in a swampy wet soil. With a pair of fore-feet curiously adapted to the purpose, it burrows and works under ground like the mole, raising a ridge as it proceeds, but seldom throwing up hillocks. As mole crickets often infest gardens by the sides of canals, they are unwelcome guests to the gardener, raising up ridges in their subterraneous progress, and rendering the walks unightly. If they take to the kitchen quarters, they occasion great damage among the plants and roots, by destroying whole beds of cabbages, young legumes, and flowers. When dug out they seem very flow and helpless, and make no use of their wings by day; but at night they come abroad, and make long excursions. In fine weather, about the middle of April, and just at the close of day, they begin to solace themselves with a low, dull, jarring note, continued for a long time without interruption, and not unlike the chattering of the fern-owl, or goat-fucker, but more inward. About the beginning of May they lay their eggs, as Mr White informs us, who was once an eye-witness: "for a gardener at an house where he was on a visit, happening to be mowing, on the 6th of that month, by the side of a canal, his scythe struck too deep, pared off a large piece of turf, and laid open to view a curious scene of domestic economy:

"Apparet domus intus, et atria longa patefacunt; "Apparet — — — penetralia,"

There There were many caverns and winding passages leading to a kind of chamber, neatly smoothed and rounded, and about the size of a moderate snuff-box. Within this secret nursery were deposited near 100 eggs of a dirty yellow colour, and enveloped in a tough skin, but too lately excluded to contain any rudiments of young, being full of a viscous substance. The eggs lay but shallow, and within the influence of the sun, just under a little heap of fresh-mowed mould, like that which is raised by ants.—When mole-crickets fly, they move "curfu undofo," rising and falling in curves, like the other species mentioned before. In different parts of this kingdom people call them fen-crickets, chur-rworms, and ece-churrs, all very apposite names."

IV. The Tettigoniæ, Grasshoppers, or Locusts armed at the tail: The females of this family are distinguished by a tubular dart at the extremity of their abdomen; in both sexes the antennæ are setaceous, and longer than the abdomen; and the tarsi composed of four articulations. Of these insects there are 69 species enumerated in the Syllema Natura. They leap by the help of their hinder legs, which are strong and much longer than the fore ones. Their walk is heavy, but they fly tolerably well. Their females deposit their eggs in the ground, by means of the appendages which they carry in their tail, which consist of two laminae, and penetrate the ground. They lay a great number of eggs at a time; and those eggs, united in a thin membrane, form a kind of group. The little larvae that spring from them are wholly like the perfect insects, excepting in size, and their having neither wings nor elytra, but only a kind of knobs, four in number, which contain both, but undisposed. The unfolding of them only takes place at the time of the metamorphosis, when the insect has attained its full growth. In these insects, when examined internally, besides the gullet, we discover a small stomach; and behind that, a very large one, wrinkled and furrowed within-side. Lower down, there is still a third; so that it is thought, and with some probability, that all the animals of this genus chew the cud, as they so much resemble ruminant animals in their internal conformation.

V. Locustæ (the Grylli of Fabricius), or Locusts unarmed at the tail. This family is distinguished by having the tail purple, without the feet of the Achaæ, or the tube of the Tettigonia; their antennæ are filiform, and half shorter than the abdomen; they have three stemmata, and three joints to the tarsi. To part of this description, however, there is an exception in the gryllus loculta-groffus, the antennæ of which are of a cylindrical form. According to Mr Barbutt, "few species vary so much in size and colours. Some of these insects are twice as long as others; the antennæ in most are filiform, but in this particular species cylindrical, composed of about 24 articulations, and but one fourth of the length of the body. As to colour, the small individuals are nearly quite red spotted with black, with the under part of the body only of a greenish yellow. The larger subjects are all over of a greenish hue, the under part being of a deeper yellow; only the inside of the hinder thighs is red. But what characterizes this species is, the form of the thorax, which has, above, a longitudinal elevation, attended by one on each side, the middle whereof drawing nigh to the first, forms a kind of X. Moreover, between the claws that terminate the feet there are small spines, but larger in this species than the rest. This species is to be met with everywhere in the country. The larvae or caterpillars very much resemble the perfect insects, and commonly dwell underground." Of this tribe, 118 other species are enumerated in the Syllema Natura, natives of different parts of the globe; besides a considerable number noted as unacquainted with regard to their being distinct species or only synonyms or varieties of some of the others.

All the Grylli, except the first family which feed upon other insects, live upon plants; the Achaæ chiefly upon the roots, the Tetigonia and Locusts upon the leaves.

The distinction of Locusts into families (IV. V.), as above characterized, is extremely proper; and the difference of organization upon which it is founded has been observed to be adapted to the mode and the places in which the insects lay their eggs. But by taking the wings into consideration, there might have been formed three tribes or divisions, instead of two, upon the same natural foundation. Thus, according to the observations of the Abbé Pouet, those which have their abdomen furnished with the tube or dart above mentioned, lay their eggs in a stiff fort of earth which that instrument perforates. During the operation, the dart opens, and, being hollow and grooved on each side within, the egg slides down along the grooves, and is deposited in the hole. Of those which have the tail simple, i.e., which have no dart, some have long wings, and some very short. The long-winged fort lay their eggs on the bare ground, and have no use for a perforating instrument; but they cover them with a glutinous substance, which fixes them to the soil, and prevents their being injured either by wind or wetness. Those, again, which have short wings deposit their eggs in the sand; and to make the holes for this purpose, they have the power of elongating and retracting their abdominal rings, and can turn their body as on a pivot; in which operation long wings would have been a material impediment.

The annals of molt of the warm countries are filled with accounts of the devastations produced by locusts, who sometimes make their appearance in clouds of vast extent. They seldom visit Europe in such swarms as formerly; yet in the warmer parts of it are still formidable.—Those which have at uncertain intervals visited Europe in our memory, are supposed to have come from Africa: they are a large species about three inches long. The head and horns are of a brownish colour; it is blue about the mouth, as also on the inside of the larger legs. The shield which covers the back is greenish; and the upper side of the body brown, spotted black, and the under side purple. The upper wings are brown, with small dusky spots, and one larger spot at the tipa. The under wings are more transparent, and of a light brown tinged with green, but there is a dark cloud of spots near the tips.—These insects are bred in the warm parts of Asia and Africa, from whence they have often taken their flight into Europe, where they committed terrible devastations. They multiply faster than any other animal in the creation, and are truly terrible in the countries where they breed. Some of them were seen in different parts. parts of Britain in the year 1748, and great mischiefs were apprehended: but happily for us, the coldness of our climate, and the humidity of our soil, are very unfavourable to their production; so that, as they are only animals of a year's continuance, they all perish without leaving a young generation to succeed them.

When the locusts take the field, it is said they have a leader at their head, whose flight they observe, and pay strict regard to all his motions. They appear at a distance like a black cloud, which, as it approaches, gathers upon the horizon, and almost hides the light of day. It often happens, that the husbandman sees this imminent calamity pass away without doing him any mischief; and the whole swarm proceeds onward to settle upon some less fortunate country. In those places, however, where they alight, they destroy every green thing, stripping the trees of their leaves, as well as devouring the corn and grass. In the tropical climates they are not so pernicious as in the more southern parts of Europe. In the first, the power of vegetation is so strong, that an interval of three or four days repairs the damage; but in Europe this cannot be done till next year. Besides, in their long flights to this part of the world, they are famished by the length of their journey, and are therefore more voracious wherever they happen to settle. But as much damage is occasioned by what they destroy, as by what they devour. Their bite is thought to contaminate the plant, and either to destroy or greatly to weaken its vegetation. To use the expression of the husbandmen, they burn wherever they touch, and leave the marks of their devastation for three or four years ensuing. When dead, they infect the air in such a manner that the stench is insupportable.—Orofius tells us, that in the year of the world 3800, Africa was infected with a multitude of locusts. After having eaten up everything that was green, they flew off and were drowned in the sea; where they caused such a stench as could not have been equalled by the putrefying carcasses of 100,000 men.

In the year 1650, a cloud of locusts was seen to enter Russia in three different places; and from thence they spread themselves over Poland and Lithuania in such astonishing multitudes, that the air was darkened and the earth covered with their numbers. In some places they were seen lying dead, heaped upon each other to the depth of four feet; in others, they covered the surface like a black cloth; the trees bent with their weight, and the damage which the country sustained exceeded computation.

In Barbary, their numbers are formidable; and Dr Shaw was a witness of their devastations there in 1724. Their first appearance was in the latter end of March, when the wind had been southerly for some time. In the beginning of April, their numbers were so vastly increased, that, in the heat of the day, they formed themselves into large swarms that appeared like clouds, and darkened the sun. In the middle of May they began to disappear, retiring into the plains to deposit their eggs. In June the young brood began to make their appearance, forming many compact bodies of several hundred yards square; which afterwards marching forward, climbed the trees, walls, and housetops, eating every thing that was green in their way. The inhabitants, to stop their progress, laid trenches all over their fields and gardens, which they filled with water. Some placed large quantities of heath, fluff, and such like combustible matter, in rows, and set them on fire on the approach of the locusts. But all this was to no purpose; for the trenches were quickly filled up, and the fires put out by the great numbers of swarms that succeeded each other. A day or two after one of these was in motion, others that were just 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 state, by casting their skins. To prepare themselves for this change, they fixed their hinder part to some bush or twig, or corner, of a stone, when immediately, by an undulating motion used on this occasion, their heads would first appear, and soon after the rest of their bodies. The whole transformation was performed in seven or eight minutes time, after which they remained for a little while in a languishing condition; but as soon as the sun and air had hardened their wings, and dried up the moisture that remained after casting off their former floughs, they returned to their former greenness, with an addition both of strength and agility. But they did not long continue in this state before they were entirely dispersed. After laying their eggs, they directed their course northward, and probably perished in the sea.—In that country, however, the amazing fertility of the soil and warmness of the climate generally render the depredations of these insects of little consequence; besides that many circumstances concur to diminish their number. Though naturally herbivorous, they often fight with each other, and the victor devours the vanquished. They are the prey, too, of serpents, lizards, frogs, and the carnivorous birds. They have been found in the stomachs of the eagle and different kinds of owls. They are also used as food by the Moors; who go to hunt them, fry them in oil or butter, and sell them publicly at Tunis and other places.

In 1754, 1755, 1756, and 1757, great devastations were committed in Spain by a species of locusts, of which we have the following description by Don Guillermo Bowles, published in Dillon's Travels through that country. "The locusts are continually seen in the southern parts of Spain, particularly in the pastures and remote uncultivated districts of Extremadura, but in general are not taken notice of, if not very numerous, as they commonly feed upon wild herbs, without preying upon gardens and cultivated lands, or making their way into housetops. The peasants look at them with indifference while they are skipping about in the field, neglecting any measure to destroy them till the danger is immediate and the favourable moment to remedy the evil is elapsed. Their yearly number is not very considerable, as the males are far more numerous than the females. If an equal proportion were allowed only for ten years, their numbers would be so great as to destroy the whole vegetative system. Beasts and birds would starve for want of subsistence, and even mankind would become a prey to their ravenous appetites. In 1754, their increase was so great from the multitude of females, that all La Mancha and Portugal were covered with them and totally ravaged. The horrors of famine were spread even farther, and afflicted..." The fruitful provinces of Andalusia, Murcia, and Valencia.

"The amours of these creatures are objects of surprize and astonishment, and their union is such that it is difficult to separate them. When this separation is voluntary, after having lasted some hours, they are so exhausted, that the male retires immediately to the water for refreshment, where, losing the use of his limbs, he soon perishes, and becomes an easy prey to the fish; having given life to his offspring at the expense of his own. The female, disencumbered, tho' not without violent struggles, spends the remainder of her days in some solitary place, busy in forming a retreat underground, where she can secure her eggs, of which she generally lays about 40, screening them by her sagacity from the intemperature of the air, as well as the more immediate danger of the plough or the spade, one fatal blow of which would destroy all the hopes of a rising generation.

"The manner of her building this cell is equally surprising. In the hinder part of her body, nature has provided her with a round smooth instrument, eight lines in length, which at its head is as big as a writing quill, diminishing to a hard sharp point, hollow within like the tooth of a viper, but only to be seen with a lens. At the root of this vehicle there is a cavity, with a kind of bladder, containing a glutinous matter, of the same colour, but without the consistence or tenacity of that of the silk-worm, as I found by an experiment, made for the purpose, by an infusion in vinegar, for several days, without any effect. The orifice of the bladder corresponds exactly with the instrument which serves to eject the glutinous matter. It is hid under the skin of the belly, and its interior surface is united to the moveable parts of the belly, and can partake of its motions, forming the most admirable contexture for every part of its operations, as she can dispose of this ingredient at pleasure, and eject the fluid, which has three very essential properties: first, being indissoluble in water, it prevents its young from being drowned; next, it resists the heat of the sun, otherwise the structure would give way and destroy its inhabitants; lastly, it is proof against the frost of winter, so as to preserve a necessary warmth within. For greater security, this retreat is always contrived in a solitary place: for though a million of locusts were to light upon a cultivated field, not one would deposit her eggs there; but wherever they meet a barren and lonesome situation, there they are sure to repair and lay their eggs.

"These locusts seem to devour, not so much from a ravenous appetite, as from a rage of destroying everything that comes in their way. It is not surprising, that they should be fond of the most juicy plants and fruits, such as melons, and all manner of garden fruits and herbs, and feed also upon aromatic plants, such as lavender, thyme, rosemary, &c., which are so common in Spain, that they serve to heat ovens: but it is very singular, that they equally eat mustard seed, onions, and garlic; nay even hemlock, and the most rank and poisonous plants, such as the thorn apple and deadly night-shade. They will even prey upon crowfoot, whose causticity burns the very hides of beasts; and such is their universal taste, that they do not prefer the innocent mallow to the bitter furze, or rue to wormwood, consuming all alike, without predilection or favour, with this remarkable circumstance, that during the four years they committed such havoc in Estremadura, the love-apple, or *Lycopersicon folianum* of Linnæus, was the only plant that escaped their rapacious tooth, and claimed a respect to its root, leaves, flowers, and fruit. Naturalists may search for their motives, which I am at a loss to discover; the more as I saw millions of them light on a field near Almaden, and devour the woollen and linen garments of the peasants, which were lying to dry on the ground. The curate of the village, a man of veracity, at whose house I was, assured me, that a tremendous body of them entered the church, and devoured the silk garments that adorned the images of the saints, not sparing even the varnish on the altars. The better to discover the nature of such a phenomenon, I examined the stomach of the locust, but only found one thin and soft membrane, with which, and the liquor it contains, it destroys and dissolves all kind of substances, equally with the most caustic and venomous plants; extracting from them a sufficient and salutary nourishment.

"Out of curiosity to know the nature of so formidable a creature, I was urged to examine all its parts with the utmost exactness: its head is of the size of a pea, though longer, its forehead pointing downwards like the handsome Andalusian horse, its mouth large and open, its eyes black and rolling, added to a timid aspect not unlike a hare. With such a dainty countenance who would imagine this creature to be the scourge of mankind! In its two jaws it has four incisive teeth, whose sharp points traverse each other like scissors, their mechanism being such as to gripe or to cut. Thus armed, what can resist a legion of such enemies? After devouring the vegetable kingdom, were they, in proportion to their strength and numbers, to become carnivorous like wasps, they would be able to destroy whole flocks of sheep, even to the dogs and shepherds; just as we are told of ants in America, that will overcome the fiercest serpents.

"The locust spends the months of April, May, and June, in the place of its birth: at the end of June its wings have a fine rose colour, and its body is strong. Being then in their prime, they assemble for the last time, and burn with a desire to propagate their species: this is observed by their motions, which are unequal in the two sexes. The male is restless and solicitous, the female is coy, and eager after food, flying the approaches of the male, so that the morning is spent in the courtship of the one and the retreat of the other. About ten o'clock, when the warmth of the sun has cleared their wings from the dampness of the night, the females seem uneasy at the forwardness of the males, who continuing their pursuit, they rise together 500 feet high, forming a black cloud that darkens the rays of the sun. The clear atmosphere of Spain becomes gloomy, and the finest summer day of Estremadura more dismal than the winter of Holland. The rustling of so many millions of wings in the air, seems like the trees of a forest agitated by the wind. The first direction of this formidable column is always against the wind, which if not too strong, the column will extend about a couple of leagues. The locusts then make a halt, when the most dreadful havoc begins; their sense of smell being so delicate, they can find at that distance a corn field or a garden, and after demolishing it, rise again in pursuit of another: this may be said to be done in an instant. Each seems to have, as it were, four arms and two feet: the males climb up the plants, as sailors do the throuds of a ship, and nip off the tenderest buds, which fall to the females below.

"Many old people assured me, when so much mischief was done in 1754, it was the third time in their remembrance, and that they always are found in the pasture grounds of Estramadura, from whence they spread into the other provinces of Spain. They are certainly indigenous, being of a different shape from those of the North, or the Levant, as is evident in comparing them with such in the cabinets of natural history. The locust of Spain is the only one that has rose-coloured wings; besides, it is impossible they can come from any other part. From the north it is clear they do not, by the observation of so many ages; from the south they cannot, without crossing the sea, which is hardly possible by the shortness of their flight: and like birds of passage, they would be known. I once saw a cloud of them pass over Malaga, and move towards the sea, and go over it, for about a quarter of a league, to the great joy of the inhabitants, who concluded they would soon be drowned; but, to their disappointment, they suddenly veered about towards the coast, and pitched upon an uncultivated space surrounded with vineyards, which they soon after quitted. When once they appear, let the number demolished be ever so great, the proportion remaining is still too considerable: therefore, the only way to put an end to such a calamity, is to attack them beforehand, and destroy their eggs, by which means they might be totally extirpated." See Plate CCXXI.

GRYNÆUS (Simon), son to a peasant of Swabia, born in 1493, was Greek professor at Heidelberg, in 1523. He took a tour into England, and received great civility from the lord chancellor Sir Thomas More, to whom Erasmus had recommended him. He was a learned and laborious man, and did great service to the commonwealth of letters. He was the first who published the Almagest of Ptolemy in Greek. He also published a Greek Euclid, and Plato's works, with some commentaries of Proclus.

GYPHIUS (Sebastian), a celebrated printer of Lyons in France, was a German, and born at Swabia near Augsburg in 1494. He restored the art of printing at Lyons, which was before exceedingly corrupted; and the great number of books printed by him are valued by the connoisseurs. He printed many books in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, with new and very beautiful types; and his editions are no less accurate than beautiful. The reason is, that he was a very learned man, and perfectly versed in the languages of such books as he undertook to print. Thus a certain epigrammatist has observed, that Robert Stephens was a very good corrector, Colinæus a very good printer, but that Gryphius was both an able printer and corrector. This is the epigram:

"Inter tot worum libros qui cudere, tres sunt Infans: languet catena turba fana Cafigat Stephanus, fulcit Colinæus, utrinque