were covered with them and totally ravaged. The horrors of famine were fpread even farther, and assailed the fruitful provinces of Andalufia, Murcia, and Valencia. The amours of these creatures are objects of furprise and astonishment, and their union is fuch that it is dith cult to feparate them. When this feparation is voluntary, after having lafted fomé hours, they are fo exhaufted, that the male retires immediately to the water for refreshment, where, lofing the ufe of his limbs, he foon perishes, and becomes an eafy prey to the fifh; having given life to his offspring at the expense of his own. The female, difembaraffed, though not without violent ftruggles, fpends the remainder of her days in fome folitary place, busy in forming a retreat under ground, where the can fecure her eggs, of which the generally lays about 40, fcreening them by her fagacity, from the intemperature of the air, as well as the more immediate danger of the plough or the fpade, one fatal blow of which would deftroy all the hopes of a rifing generation. The manner of her building this cell is equally furpri fing. In the hinder part of her body, nature has provided her with a round smooth inftrument, 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 feen 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 confiftency or tenacity of that of the filk-worm, as I found by an experiment made for the purpofe, by an infufion in vinegar for feveral days, without any effect. The orifice of the bladder correfponds exactly with the inftrument which ferves 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 the can difpofe of this ingredient at pleasure, and eject the fluid, which has 3 very effential properties: firft, being indiffoluble in water, it pre vents its young from being drowned; next, it refifts the heat of the fun, otherwife the structure would give way and destroy its inhabitants; lastly, it is proof against the froft of winter, fo as to preferve a neceffary warmth within. For greater fecurity, 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 depofit her eggs there; but wherever they meet a barren and lonesome fituation, there they are fure to repair and lay their eggs. Thefe locufts feem to devour, not fo much from a ravenous appetite, as from a rage of deftroying every thing that comes. in their way. It is not furprising that they should be fond of the most juicy plants and fruits, fuch as melons, and all manner of garden fruits and herbs, and feed alfo upon aromatic plants, fuch as lavender, thyme, rofemary, &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 moft rank and poisonous plants fuch as the thorn-apple and deadly night-fhade. They even prey upon crowfoot, whofe caufti. 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 purpofe; for the trenches were quickly filled up, and the fires put out by the great numbers of fwarms that fucceeded each other. A day or two after one of thefe was in motion, others that were juft hatched came to glean after them, gnawing off the young branches, and the very bark of the trees. Having lived near a mea in this manner, they arrived at their full growth, and threw off their worm-like state by cafting their fkins. To pre. pare themselves for this change, they fixed their hinder part to fome bush or twig, or corner of a ftone, when immediately, by an undulating motion used on this occafion, their heads would firft 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 greedinefs, with an addition both of ftrength and agility. But they did not long continue in this ftate before they were entirely difperfed. 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 infects of little confequence; befides that many circumftances concur to diminish their number. Though naturally herbivorous, they often fight with each other, and the victor devours the vanquifhed. 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 alfo ufed 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 devaftations were committed in Spain by a fpecies of locufts, of which we have the following defcription by Don Guillermo Bowles, published in Dillon's Travels through that country: "The locufts are continually feen in the fouthern parts of Spain, particularly in the pastures and remote uncultivated diftricts of Eftremadura, 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 deftroy them till the dan ger is immediate, and the favourable moment to remedy the evil is elapfed. 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 fo great as to deftroy the whole ve getative fyftem. Beafts and birds would ftarve for want of fubfiftence, and even mankind would become a prey to their ravenous appetites. In 1754, their increafe was fo great, from the multitude of females, that all La Mancha and Portugal VOL. X. PART II. Rrrr city first direction of this formidable column is always againft the wind, which if not too ftrong, the column will extend about a couple of leagues. The locufts then make a halt, when the most dreadful havoc begins; their fenfe of fmell being so delicate, they can find at that diftance a corn-field or a garden, and after demolishing it, rife again in purfuit of another: this may be faid to be done in an inftant. Each feems 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 fe males below. Many old people affured me, when fo much mischief was done in 1754, it was the third time in their remembrance, and that they always are found in the pafture grounds of Eftremadura, from whence they spread into the other provinces of Spain. They are certainly indigenous, being of a different fhape from thofe of the north or the Levant, as is evident on comparing them with fuch in the cabinets of natural hiftory. The locuft of Spain is the only one that has rofe-coloured wings: befides, it is impoffible they can come from any other part. From the north it is clear they do not, by the obfervations of so many ages; from the south they cannot, without crof fing the fea, which is hardly poffible by the shortnefs of their flight: and like birds of paffage, they would be known. I once faw a cloud of them go over Malaga, and move towards the fea, and pafs 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 dif appointment, they suddenly veered about towards the coaft, and pitched upon an uncultivated space furrounded with vineyards, which they soon after quitted. When once they appear, let the num ber demolished be ever fo great, the proportion remaining is ftill 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. city burns the very hides of beafts, and fuch is their univerfal tafte, that they do not prefer the innocent mallow to the bitter furze, or rue to wormwood, confuming all alike, without predilection or favour, with this remarkable circumftance, that during the four years they committed fuch havoc in Eftremadura, the love-apple, or by copersicon folanum of Innæus, was the only plant that escaped their rapacious tooth, and claimed a refpect to its root, leaves, flowers, and fruit. Naturalifts may fearch for their motives, which I am at a lofs to discover; the more as I faw millions of them light on a field near Almaden, and devour the woollen and linen garments of the peafants, which were lying to dry on the ground. The curate of the village, a man of veracity, at whofe 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 locuft, but only found one thin and foft membrane, with which, and the liquor it contains, it deftroys and diffolves all kinds of fubftances, equally with the moft cauftic and venomous plants; extracting from them a fufficient and falutary nou rifhment. Out of curiofity to know the nature of fo formidable a creature, I was urged to examine all its parts with the utmost exactnefs; its head is of the fize of a pea, though longer; its forehead pointing downwards like the handsome Andalufian horfe; 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 fcourge of mankind: In its two jaws it has 4 incifive teeth, whose sharp points traverse each other like fciffars, 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 ftrength and numbers, to become carnivorous like wafps, they would be able to destroy whole flocks of sheep, even to the dogs and fhepherds; juft as we are told of ants in America, that will overcome the fiercest ferpents. The locuft fpends the months of April, May, and June in the place of its birth; at the end of June its wings have a fine rofe colour, and its body is ftrong. Being then in their prime, they affemble for the laft time, and burn with a defire to propagate their species: this is obferved by their motions, which are unequal in the two fexes. The male is reftlefs and folicitous, the female is coy, and eager after food, flying the approaches of the male, fo that the morning is fpent 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 damp nefs of the night, the females feem uneafy at the forwardness of the males, who continuing their purfuit, 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 Eftremadura more difimal than the winter of Holland. The ruftling of fo many millions of wings in the air, feems like the trees of a forest agitated by the wind. The v. GRYLLI TETTIGONIE, GRASSHOPPERS, or Locuffs armed at the Tail. The females of this family are diftinguished by a tubular dart at the extremity of their abdomen: in both fexes the antennæ are fetaceous, and longer than the abdomen; and the tarfi compofed of four articulations. Of these infects there are 69 species enumerated in the Syftema Natura. They leap by the help of their hinder legs, which are ftrong and much longer than the fore ones. Their walk is heavy, but they fly tolerably well. Their females depofit 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 thofe 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 thefe infects, when examined internally, besides the gullet, we discover a small ftomach; A ftomach: and behind that, a very large one, wrinkled and furrowed within fide. Lower down, there is ftill a third: fo that it is thought, and with fome probability, that all the animals of this genus chew the cud, as they fo much refemble ruminant animals (7.) GRYNÆUS, Simaternal conformation. Simon, a learned German, the fon of a peafant of Suabia, born at Veringen, in Hohenzollern, in 1493. He was Greek pro feffor at Vienna, and afterwards at Heidelberg, in 1533. Being a proteftant he was expofed to much perfecution, and in 1531 took refuge in England; where he received great civility from Sir Thomas More, to whom Erafmus had recommended him. He was the firft who publifhed the Almagest of Ptolemy in Greek. He also pub lifhed a Greek Euclid, and Plato's works, with fome commentaries of Proclus. He died at Ba fil, 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 fons alfo eminent in literature. GRYPHITES, in natural hiftory, or CROW's STONE, an oblong foffile thell, 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 diftinct fpecies; fome extremely rounded and convex on the back, others lefs fo; and the plates, of which they are compofed, are in fome fmaller and thinner, in others thicker and larger, in fpecimens of the fame bignefs. GUACOCINGA, or a town of Mexico, in GUACOCKINGO, the prov. of Tlafcala, containing about 600 inhabitants, of whom roo are Spaniards.. (1.) GUADALAJARA, or GUADALAXARA, town of Spain, in the prov. of New Caftile, and diftrict of Alcala, feated 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. N." (2.) GUADALAJARA, or GUADALAXARA, a rich and fertile province of Mexico, in the audi Jior Dits ence of Galicia. (3.) GUADALAJARA, or GUADALAXARA, the capital of the above province (N° 2.), with a bishop's fee; feated on a plain near the Baranja 217 miles W. of Mexico. Lon. 104. 49. W. Lat. 20. 50. N. (4) GUADALAJARA, or GREAT RIVER, a river of Mexico, which rifes 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 ftupendous falls about 15 miles S. of the city, N° 2. GUADALAVIAR, a river of Spain, which rifes on the confines of Arragon and New Caftile, and, running by Turvel in Arragon, croffes the kingdom of Valencia, paffes the town of that name, and foon after falls into the Mediterranean fea, a little below Valencia. (1.) GUADALOUPE, a handfome town of Spain, in Eftremadura, with a celebrated convent, whofe ftructure is magnificent, and is immenfely rich. It is feated on the river (N° 2.), 45 miles SW. of Toledo. Lon. 3. 50. E. Lat. 39. 15. N. (2.) GAUDALOUPE, a river of Spain, in Eftre madura. GRYPHIUS, Sebaftian, a celebrated printer of Lyons in France, was born at Suabia near Augfburg, in 1494. He reftored the art of printing at Lyons, which was before exceedingly corrupted; (3.) GUADALOUPE, one of the CARIBBEE or and the books printed by him are ftill valued by LEEWARD iflands, lying about mid-way between connoiffeurs. He printed many books in Hebrew, Antigua and Martinico. It is 45 miles long, 38 Greek, and Latin, with new and very beautiful broad, and, being of an irregular figure, is about types; and his editions are no lefs accurate than 240 miles in circumference. It is divided into elegant. The reafon is, that he was a very learn- two parts by a fmall arm of the fea, which is not ed man, and perfectly verfed in the languages of above 6 miles long, and from 15 to 40 fathoms fuch books as he undertook to print. Thus a cer- broad. This canal, named the Salt River, is natain epigrammatift has obferved, that Robert Ste- vigable, but only carries veffels of 50 tons burden. phens was a very good corrector, Colinæus a very That part of the island which gives its name to the good printer, but that Gryphius was both an whole is, towards the centre, full of craggy rocks, able printer and corrector. He died in 1556, in where the cold is fo intenfe, that nothing will his 63d year; and his bufinefs was carried on with grow upon them but fern and fome useless fhrubs reputation by his fon Anthony Gryphius. One covered with mofs. On the top of these rocks a of the most beautiful books of Sebaftian Gryphius mountain called la Souffriere, or the Brimstone is a Latin Bible: it was printed in 1550, with the Mountain, rifes to an immenfe height. It exhales, largest types that had then been feen, in 2 vols through various openings, a thick black smoke, folio. intermixed with fparks that are vifible by night. From all these hills flow numberlefs fprings, 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 Inlands, had orders to renew their provifion with this pure and falubri ous water. Such is that part of the ifland properly called Guadaloupe. That which is common ly called Grande Terre has not been fo much favoured by nature. It is indeed lefs rugged, but it wants fprings and rivers. The foil is not fo fer tile nor the climate fo wholefome. No European Rrrr2 GRYPHUS. See GRIFFON, a; 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.. () 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 deftroyed by a volcano in that mountain in 1760. nation |