their fields and gardens, which they filled with water. Some placed large quantities of heath, stubble, and fuch like combustible matter, in rows, and fet them on fire on the approach of the locufts. 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 fucceeded 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 me in this manner, they arrived at their full growth, and threw off their worm-like state by casting their skins. To pre. pare themselves for this change, they fixed their hinder part to fome bush or twig, or corner of a stone, when immediately, by an undulating motion used on this occafion, their heads would first appear, and foon after the rest of their bodies. The whole transformation was performed in 7 or 8 minutes, after which they remained for a little while in a languishing condition; but as foon as the fun and air had hardened their wings, and dried up the moisture that remained after cafting off their former floughs, they returned to their former greediness, with an addition both of ftrength and agility. But they did not long continue. in this ftate before they were entirely disperfed. After laying their eggs, they directed their course northward, and probably perished in the fea. In that country, however, the amazing fertility of the foil 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 ferpents, lizards, frogs, and carnivorous birds. They have been found in the ftomachs 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 fell 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 fouthern parts of Spain, particularly in the pastures and remote uncultivated dis tricts of Estremadura, 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 houses. The peasants look on them with indifference while they are frisking 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 confiderable, 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 fubsistence, 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 VOL. X. PART II. were covered with them and totally ravaged. The horrors of famine were spread even farther, and affailed the fruitful provinces of Andalufia, Murcia, and Valencia. The amours of these creatures are objects of surprise and astonishment, and their union is such that it is diffi cult 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, lofing the use of his limbs, he foon perishes, and becomes an easy prey to the fish; having given life to his offspring at the expense of his own. The female, disembaraffed, though not without violent ftruggles, spends the remainder of her days in some folitary place, busy in forming a retreat under ground, where the 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 inore immediate danger of the plough or the spade, one fatal blow of which would destroy all the hopes of a rifing generation. The manner of her building this cell is equally furprifing. In the hinder part of her body, nature has provided her with a round smooth instrument, 8 lines in length, which at its head is as big as a writing quill, diminishing to a hard 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 fame colour, but without the confiftency or tenacity of that of the filk-worm, as I found by an experiment made for the purpose, by an infufion 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 furface 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 the can difpofe of this ingredient at pleasure, and eject the fluid, which has 3 very effential pro perties: firft, being indiffoluble in water, it pre vents its young from being drowned; next, it refifts the heat of the fun, otherwise the structure would give way and destroy its inhabitants; lastly, it is proof against the frost of winter, fo as to preserve a necessary warmth within. For greater security, this retreat is always contrived in a folitary place: for though a million of locufts 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 fure to repair and lay their eggs. These locusts seem to devour, not fo much from a ravenous appetite, as from a rage of destroying every thing 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, fuch as lavender, thyme, rosemary, &c. which are fo common in Spain, that they ferve to heat ovens but it is very fingular, that they equally eat muf tard feed, onions, and garlic; nay, even hem lock, and the most rank and poisonous plants fuch as the thorn-apple and deadly night-shade. They even prey upon crowfoot, whose caufti city Rrrr 1 city 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 by. copersicon folanum of Linnæus, was the only plant that escaped their rapacious tooth, and claimed a refpect to its root, leaves, flowers, and fruit. Naturalifts may search for their motives, which I am at a lofs to difcover; the more as I faw 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 houfe I was, affured me, that a tremendous body of them entered the church, and devoured the filk garments that adorned the images of the faints, not fparing even the varnish on the altars. The better to discover the nature of fuch a phe. nomenon, I examined the ftomach of the locust, but only found one thin and soft membrane, with which, and the liquor it contains, it destroys and diffolves all kinds of fubstances, equally with the most cauftic and venomous plants; extracting from them a fufficient and falutary nourishment. Out of curiosity to know the nature of fo formidable a creature, I was urged to examine all its parts with the utmost exactness; its head is of the fize of a pea, though longer; its forehead pointing downwards like the handsome Andalusian horse; its mouth large and jopen; its eyes black and rolling, added to a timid aspect not unlike a hare. With fuch a daftardly countenance, who would imagine this creature to be the scourge of mankind: In its two jaws it has 4 incisive teeth, whose sharp points traverse each other like scissars, their mechanism being fuch as to gripe or to cut. Thus armed, what can refift a legion of fuch 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 defire to propagate their species: this is observed by their motions, which are unequal in the two fexes. The male is restless and folicitous, 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 10 o'clock, when the warmth of the fun has cleared their wings from the dampness of the night, the females feem uneafy at the forwardness of the males, who continuing their purfuit, they they rife together 500 feet high, forming a black cloud that darkens the rays of the fun. The clear atmosphere of Spain becomes gloomy, and the finest fummer day of Estremadura more dismal than the winter of Holland. The rustling of fo 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 fmell being so delicate, they can find at that diftance a corp-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 the plants, as failors do the shrouds 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 Estremadura, 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 on comparing them with fuch 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 obfervations of fo many ages; from the south they cannot, without croffing the fea, which is hardly poffible by the shortnefs of their flight : and like birds of paffage, they would be known. I once saw a cloud of them go over Malaga, and move towards the fea, and pass over it, for about a quarter of a league, to the great joy of the inhabitants, who concluded they would foon be drowned; but, to their difappointment, they suddenly veered about towards the coaft, and pitched upon an uncultivated space furrounded with vineyards, which they foon after quitted. When once they appear, let the-number demolished be ever so great, the proportion remaining is still too confiderable: therefore, the only way to put an end to fuch a calamity, is to attack them beforehand, and destroy their eggs, by which means they may be totally extirpated." See Plate CLXXI. Fig. 1. V. GRYLLI TETTIGONIE, GRASSHOPPERS, or Locufis armed at the Tail. The females of this family are diftinguished by a tubular dart at the extremity of their abdomen: in both sexes the antennæ are fetaceous, and longer than the abdomen; and the tarfi composed of four articulations. Of these infects there are 69 species enumerated in the Systema Nature. 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 appendices which they carry in their tail, which confift of two laminæ, 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 larvæ that spring from them are wholly like the perfect infects, excepting in fize, and their having neither wings nor elytra, but only a kind of knobs, 4 in number, which contain both, but undisplayed. The unfolding of them only takes place at the time of the metamorphofis, when the infect has attained its full growth. In these infects, when examined internally, besides the gullet, we discover a small ftomach; 1 GUACOCINGA, or a town of Mexico, in GUACOCKINGO, the prov. of Tlascala, containing about 600 inhabitants, of whom roo are Spaniards. 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 fome probability, that all the animals of this genus chew the cud, as they so much resemble ruminant animals in their internal conformation. (1.) GRYNÆUS, Simon, a learned German, the fon of a peasant of Suabia, born at Veringen, in Hohenzollern, in 1493. He was Greek profeffor at Vienna, and afterwards at Heidelberg, in 1523. Being a protestant he was exposed to much perfecution, and in 1331 took refuge in England; where he received great civility from Sir Thomas More, to whom Erasmus had recommended him. He was the first who published the Almagest of Ptolemy in Greek. He also published a Greek Euclid, and Plato's works, with fome commentaries of Proclus. He died at Bafil, in 1541. (2.) GRYNEUS, Thomas, nephew of the above (N° 1.), was born at Syrengen in Suabia, in 1512. He was equally learned and amiable, and left 4 sons also eminent in literature. GRYPHITES, in natural history, or crow's STONE, an oblong fossile shell, very narrow at the head, and becoming gradually wider to the extremity, where it ends in a circular limb; the head or beak of this is very hooked or bent inward. They are frequently found in our gravel or clay pits in many counties. There are 3 or 4 distinct species; fome extremely rounded and convex on the back, others less so; and the plates, of which they are composed, are in fome smaller and thinner, in others thicker and larger, in specimens of the same bigness. 1 GRYPHIUS, Sebastian, a celebrated printer of Lyons in France, was born at Suabia near Augfburg, in 1494. He restored the art of printing at Lyons, which was before exceedingly corrupted; and the books printed by him are still valued by connoiffeurs. He printed many books in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, with new and very beautiful types; and his editions are no less accurate than elegant. 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. He died in 1556, in his 63d year; and his business was carried on with reputation by his son Anthony Gryphius. One of the most beautiful books of Sebastian Gryphius is a Latin Bible: it was printed in 1550, with the largest types that had then been seen, in 2 vols folio. GRYPHUS. See GRIFFON, § 2; and Plate CLXXI. fig. 2. GRYSON, a county of Virginia, bounded on the W. N. and E. by Wythe, Montgomery, and Henry counties; and on the S. by N. Carolina. (1) GUA, a town of France, in the dep. of Lower Charente, 8 miles SE. of Marennes. (2.) GUA, a town of Cuba, 36 m. SW. of Bayamo. GUACANA, a village of Mexico near Mount Jeruyo, which was destroyed by a volcano in that mountain in 1760. (1.) GUADALAJARA, or GUADALAXARA, a town of Spain, in the prov. of New Castile, and district of Alcala, seated on the Herares; containing 9 churches and 14 convents, but hardly 3000 inhabitants. It is 22 miles NE. of Madrid. Lon. 2. 45. W. Lat. 40. 36. Ν. (2.) GUADALAJARA, or GUADALAXARA, a rich and fertile province of Mexico, in the audience of Galicia. (3.) GUADALAJARA, Or GUADALAXARA, the capital of the above province (N° 2.), with a bishop's see; feated on a plain near the Baranja: 217 miles W. of Mexico. Lon. 104.49. W. Lat. 20. 50. N. (4.) GUADALAJARA, OF GREAT RIVER, a river of Mexico, which rises in the mountains of Toloccan, near the above city; (N° 3.) and after running above 600 miles, falls into the S. Pacific Ocean, in Lat. 22° N. It has stupendous falls about 15 miles S. of the city, No 2. GUADALAVIAR, a river of Spain, which rises on the confines of Arragon and New Caftile, and, running by Turvel in Arragon, crosses the king. dom of Valencia, passes the town of that name, and foon after falls into the Mediterranean fea, a little below Valencia. (1.) GUADALOUPE, a handsome town of Spain, in Estremadura, with a celebrated convent, whose structure is magnificent, and is immensely rich. It is feated on the river (N° 2.), 45 miles SW. of Toledo. Lon. 3. 50. E. Lat. 39. 15. Ν. (2.) GAUDALOUPE, a river of Spain, in Estremadura. (3.) GUADALOUPE, one of the CARIBBEE OF LEEWARD Islands, lying about mid-way between Antigua and Martinico. It is 45 miles long, 38 broad, and, being of an irregular figure, is about 240 miles in circumference. It is divided into two parts by a small arm of the fea, which is not above 6 miles long, and from 15 to 40 fathoms broad. This canal, named the Salt River, is navigable, but only carries vessels of so tons burden. That part of the island which gives its name to the whole is, towards the centre, full of craggy rocks, where the cold is so intense, that nothing will grow upon them but fern and some useless shrubs covered with moss. On the top of these rocks a mountain called la Souffriere, or the Brimstone Mountain, rises to an immense height. It exhales, through various openings, a thick black smoke, intermixed with sparks that are visible by night. From all these hills flow numberless springs, which fertilize the plains below, and moderate the burning heat of the climate by a refreshing stream, fo celebrated, that the galleons which formerly used to touch at the Windward Islands, had orders to renew their provifion with this pure and falubrious water. Such is that part of the island properly called Guadaloupe. That which is commonly called Grande Terre has not been so much favoured by nature. It is indeed less rugged, but it wants springs and rivers. The foil is not so fer. tile nor the climate so wholesome. No European Rrrra nation |