or not. The general idea among naturalists has been that it is not, and that the splendour exhibited by the female in this species is ordained for the purpose of attracting the male. This circumstance is elegantly expressed in some beautiful lines of Mr. Gilbert White, in his History of Selburne.

"The chilling night-dews fall; away, retire;
For see, the glow-worm lights her am'rous fire!
Thus, ere night's veil had half-obscur❜d the sky,
Th' impatient damsel hung her lamp on high;
True to the signal, by love's meteor led,
Leander hasten'd to his Hero's bed."

Dr. Darwin also, in his admired poem the Botanic Garden, commemorates the splendour of the glow-worm among other phæno. mena supposed to be produced under the superintendance of the nymphs of fire.

"You with light gas the lamps nocturnal feed
That dance and glimmer o'er the marshy mead;
Shine round Calendula at twilight hours,
And tip with silver all her saffron flowers;
Warm on her mossy couch the radiant worm,
Guard from cold dews her love-illumin'd form,
From leaf to leaf conduct the virgin light,

Star of the earth, and diamond of the night!"

It is certain that in some species of this genus the male as well as the female is luminous, as in the lampyris italica, which seems to be a native of our own island also, though less common here than in the warmer parts of Europe. Aldrovandus describes the winged glow-worm as having its wing-shells of a dusky colour, and at the end of the body two brilliant fiery spots like the flame of sulphur.

In the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1684, we find a paper by a Mr. Waller, describing the English flying glow-worm as of a dark colour, with the tail part very luminous: he maintains that both male and female of this species are winged, and that the female is larger than the male the light of this insect was very vivid, so as to be plainly perceived even when a candle was in the

room. Mr. Waller observed this species at Northaw, in Hertford shire. From the figure given by this writer it appears to be about half an inch in length, which is much smaller than the common female glow worm.

In Italy this flying glow-worm is extremely plentiful; and we are informed by Dr. Smith, and other travellers, that it is a very common practice for the ladies to stick them by way of ornament in different parts of their head-dress during the evening hours.

The common or wingless glow-worm may be very successfully kept, if properly supplied with moist turf, grass, moss, &c. for a considerable length of time; and, as soon as the evening commences, will regularly exhibit its beautiful effulgence, illuminating every object within a small space around it, and sometimes the light is so vivid, as to be perceived through the box in which it is kept. This insect deposits its eggs, which are small and yellowish, on the leaves of grass, &c.

The FULGORA LANTERNARIA, or PERUVIAN LANTERN-FLY, is undoubtedly one of the most curious of insects; it is of a very considerable size, measuring nearly three inches and a half from the tip of the front to that of the tail; and about five inches and a half from wing's end to wing's end when expanded: the body is of a lengthened oval shape, roundish or subcylindric, and divided into several rings or segments: the head is nearly equal to the length of the rest of the animal, and is oval, inflated, and bent slightly upwards: the ground-colour is an elegant yellow, with a strong tinge of green in some parts, and marked with numerous bright redbrown variegations, in the form of stripes and spots: the wings are very large, of a yellow colour, most elegantly varied with brown undulations and spots, and the lower pair are decorated by a very large eye-shaped spot on the middle of each, the iris or border of the spot being red, and the centre half red and half semi-transparent white: the head or lantern is pale yellow, with longitudinal red stripes. This beautiful insect is a native of Surinam and many other parts of South America, and during the night diffuses so strong a phosphoric splendor from its head or lantern, that it may be employed for the purpose of a candle or torch; and it is said that three or four of the insects, tied to the top of a stick, are frequently used by travellers for that purpose. The celebrated Merian, in her work on the insects of Surinam, gives a very agreeable account of

the surprize into which she was thrown by the first view of the flashes of light proceeding from these Insects. "The Indians once brought me, says she," before I knew that they shone by night, a number of these lantern-flies, which I shut up in a large wooden box. In the night they made such a noise, that I awoke in a fright, and ordered a light to be brought: not knowing then whence the noise proceeded. As soon as we found that it came from the box, we opened it; but were still much more alarmed, and let it fall to the ground in a fright, at seeing a flame of fire come out of it; and as many animals as came out, so many flames of fire appeared. When we found this to be the case, we recovered from our fright, and again collected the Insects highly admiring their splendid appearance."

[Shaw.

SECTION III.

Locust Cricket.

Gryllus. LINN.

THERE are various species belonging to this genus, that are worthy notice in the present place: particularly the migratory locust, the crested cricket, and the mole cricket. We shall give a short de. scription of each in their order.

1. Migratorius Locust.

Gryllus migratorius.-LINN.

This species is to be placed among the most noxious of all insects, or those capable of producing the most dreadful and extensive destruction. Legions of these animals are from time to time observed in various parts of the world, where the havoc they commit is almost incredible: whole provinces are in a manner desolated by them in the space of a few days, and the air is darkened by their numbers; nay even when dead they are still terrible; since the putrefaction arising from their inconceivable number is such, that it has been regarded as one of the probable causes of pestilence in the Eastern regions. This formidable Locust is generally of a brownish colour, varied with pale red or flesh-colour, and the legs are frequently blueish. In the year 1748, it appeared in irregular

flights in several parts of Europe, as in Germany, France and England: and in this 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 probably driven by some irregular wind out of their intended course, and weakened by the coolness of the climate.

From a paper published in the 18th volume of the Philosophical Transactions we find that in the year 1693, some swarms of this species of locust settled in some parts of Wales. Two vast flights were observed in the air not far from the town of Dol-galken in Merionethshire; the others fell in Pembrokeshire. From a letter published in the 38th volume of the same work it appears that some parts of Germany, particularly in the March of Brandenburgh, &c. suffered considerable injury from the depredations of these animals. They made their appearance in the spring of the year 1732, from flights which had deposited their eggs in the ground the preceding year. They attacked and devoured the young spike of the wheat, &c. and this chiefly by night, and thus laid waste many acres at a time beyond all hope of recovery. In the 46th volume of the same Transactions, we find a description of the ravages of these animals in Walachia, Moldavia, Transylvania, Hungary, and Poland, in the years 1747 and 1748.

"The first swarms entered into Transylvania in August, 1747 : · these were succeeded by others, which were so surprisingly numerous, that when they reached the Red Tower, they were full four hours in their passage over that place; and they flew so close that they made a sort of noise in the air by the beating of their wings against one another. The width of the swarm was some hundreds of fathoms, and its height or density may be easily imagined to be more considerable, inasmuch as they hid the sun, and darkened the sky, even to that degree, when they flew low, that people could not know one another at the distance of twenty paces; but, whereas they were to fly over a river that runs in the vallies of the Red Tower, and could find neither resting-place nor food; being at length tired with their flight, one part of them lighted on the unripe corn on this side of the Red Tower, such as millet, Turkish wheat, &c.; another pitched on a low wood, where, having miserably wast ed the produce of the land, they continued their journey, as if a signal had actually been given for a march. The guards of the

Red Tower attempted to stop their irruption into Transylvania by firing at them*; and, indeed, where the balls and shot swept through the swarm, they gave way and divided; but, having filled up their ranks in a moment, they proceeded on their journey. In the month of September, some troops of them were thrown to the ground by great rains and other inclemency of the weather, and thoroughly soaked with wet, they crept along in quest of holes in the earth, dung, and straw; where, being sheltered from the rains, they laid a vast number of eggs, which stuck together by a viscid juice, and were longer and smaller than what is commonly called an ant's egg t, very like grains of oats. The females having laid their eggs, die, like the silk-worm; and we Transylvanians found by experience, that the swarm which entered our fields by the Red Tower, did not seem to intend remaining there, but were thrown to the ground by the force of the wind, and there laid their eggs: a vast number of which being turned up and crushed by the plough, in the beginning of the ensuing spring, yielded a yellowish juice, In the spring of 1748, certain little blackish worms were seen lying in the fields and among the bushes, sticking together, and collected in clusters, not unlike the hillocks of moles or ants. As nobody knew what they were, so there was little or no notice taken of them, and in May they were covered by the shooting of the corn sown in winter; but the subsequent June discovered what those worms were; for then, as the corn sown in spring was pretty high, these creatures began to spread over the fields, and become destructive to the vegetables by their numbers. Then at length the country people, who had slighted the warning given them, began to repent of their negligence; for as these insects were now dispersed all over the fields, they could not be extirpated without injuring the corn. At that time they differed little or nothing from our common grasshopper, having their head, sides, and back, of a dark colour, with a yellow belly, and the rest of a reddish hue. About the middle of June, according as they were hatched, sooner or later, they were generally a finger's length, or somewhat longer, but their shape and

* In the eastern parts of the world it is often found necessary for the governors of particular provinces to command a certain number of the military to take the field against armies of locusts, with a train of artillery.

+ Which is not the real egg, but the chrysalis of the ant, enveloped in its

oval silken case.