156 ON THE BLIGHT 



years of many gei;erations. A fire devoureth 

 before them ; and behind them a flame burneth : 

 the land is as the garden of Eden before them ^ 

 and behind them a desolate wilderness ; yea, and 

 nothing shall escape them. The appearance of 

 them is as the appearance of horses ; and as 

 horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of 

 chariots, on the tops of mountains, shall they 

 leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devour- 

 eth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle- 

 array. Before their face the people shall be much 

 pained : all faces shall gather blackness." From 

 this dreadful scourge, and from other plagues of 

 a similar, though less distressing, character, the 

 inhabitants of the British Isles are, fortunately, 

 in a great measure, exempt. Still they do occa- 

 sionally experience much inconvenience, both as 

 regards their persons and property, from noxious 

 animals of this class. A multitude of examples, 

 confirming the truth of this remark, might easily 

 be adduced ; but as lengthy details, relative to a 

 matter of such general notoriety, would, in all 

 probability, be deemed superfluous, I shall, in 

 the present instance, limit my observations to a 

 case of recent occurrence ; in which the oaks, in 

 the vicinity of Manchester, were nearly stripped 

 of their foliage, by two minute species of insects. 



Early in May, 1827, the green weevil, Curcu- 



