GRYLLUS, in natural history, the lo. cast, grasshopper, and cricket, a genus of insects belonging to the order He miptera. Generic character : head inflected, armed with jaws, and furnished with feelers : an tenna, in most species, either filiform or setaceous ; wings four, deflex, convolut. ed ; lower wings pleated ; hind legs form ed for leaping ; claws double on all the feet. There are sixty-one species,of which the following are most worthy of notice : 1. Among the most numerous species is the gryllus migratorius of Linnmus or common migratory locust, will ch,of all insects capable of injuring mankind, seems to possess the most dreadful powers of destruction. Legions of these amimals are from time to time observed in vari ous parts of the world, where the havock 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 re g ions This formidable locust is general ly of a brownish colour, varied with pale red, or flesh-colour, and the legs are fre quently bluish. In the year 1748, it ap peared in irregular flights in several parts of Europe, as in Germany, France, and England ; and in the 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 proba bly driven by some irregular wind oat of their intended course, and weakened by the coolness of our climate. The ravages of locusts in various parts of the world, at different periods, are recorded by nu merous authors. In the year 593 of the Christian era, after a great drought, these animals appeared in such vast legions as to cause a famine in many countries. In 677, Syria and Mesopotamia were over run by them. In 852, immense swarms took their flight from the eastern regions into the west, flying with such a sound that they might have been mistaken for birds : they destroyed all vegetables, not sparing even the bark of trees and the thatch of houses; and devoured the corn so rapidly, as tb destroy, on computation, a hundred and forty acres in a day : their daily marches, or distances of flight, were computed at twenty miles ; and these were regulated by leaders or kings, who flew first, and settled on the spot which was to be visited at the same hour the next day by the whole legion : these marches were always undertaken at sun rise. The locusts were at length driven,
by the force of winds, into the Belgic ocean, and being thrown back by the tide and left on the shores, caused a dreadful pestilence by their smell. In 1271, all the corn-fields of Milan were destro. ed ; and in the year 1339, all those of Lom bardy. In 1541, incredible hosts afflicted Poland, Wallachia, and all the adjoining territories, darkening the sun with their numbem, and ravaging all the fruits of the earth.
2. One of the largest species of locust yet known is the gryllus cristatus of Lin nxus, which is five or six times the size of the gryllus migratorius ; and, together with some others of the larger kind, is made use of in various parts of the world as an article of food. The gryllus crista tus is a highly beautiful animal, being of a bright with the body annulated with black, and the legs varied with yel low ; the upper wings tesselated with al ternate variegations of dark and pale green ; the lower with transverse undu lated streaks ; the length of the animal from head to tail is about four inches ; and the expanse of wings from tip to tip, when fully extended, hardly less than seven inches and a half.
3. The gryllus viridissimus of Linnaeus, is one of the largest European species, and is often seen during the decline of summer in England. It is wholly of a pale grass-green, with a slight bluish cast on the head and under part of the thorax, which is marked above by a lon gitudinal reddish-brown line ; the length of the insect, from the mouth to the tips of the wings, is about two inches and a half : the female is distinguished by a long sword-shaped process at the end of the body, being the instrument with which she pierces the ground in order to deposit her eggs ; it consists of a pair of valves, through the whole length of which the eggs are protruded ; they are of an oblong form, and of a pale brown colour.