THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 199 



infested with these pupse, to be conveyed at this time, must have been 

 taken anterior to the harvest. Dr. Fitch tries to explain this in a queer 

 way : "Had a company of soldiers needed straw for package, no objec- 

 tions would have been made to their going in a field (infested by the fly) 

 and with a scythe gathering what they required weeks before the usual 

 time of the harvest." Dr. Wagner is rather mortified by this funny con- 

 ception of the military discipline of the Hessian troops. But the sup- 

 position is more untenable as the sending of the troops was rather 

 unpopular ; their passage was objected to by several parties, and they had 

 to make long and various circuits, and to conduct themselves in a very 

 cautious manner. Further, the minute official reports would have preserved 

 details of such entirely unusual events. The first division of the Hessian 

 troops was ready to depart in the middle of February, 1776. The troops 

 were ordered to march from Cassel through Hanover to Bremen. As the 

 British transport ships had not yet arrived at Bremenhaven, the troops 

 returned to Hesse, and started again February 29th. In passing Bremen 

 March 10th, every regiment had to be transported on seventy wagons, 

 because the whole country was inundated by the Rivers Weser and 

 Wumme. The small number of wagons shows that the baggage could 

 not have been very large. The troops arrived March 21st to 22nd, 

 at Bremenhaven, and were embarked from March 23rd to April 15th, 

 as the transport ships arrived only slowly. The fleet started April 

 17th, arrived in Spithead April 28th, left May 6th, and arrived August 

 17th at Sandy Hook. Some ships (after Dr. Wagner's statement) seem 

 to have reached Halifax July 7th, and Utrecht, off Long Island, August 

 12th. Several transport ships left Bremenhaven April 21st, and Ports- 

 mouth May 1 2th, but arrived at the same time with the others at Sandy 

 Hook. 



The accommodations for the troops on the ships were all furnished by 

 England. " The bedding," says Bancroft, " was infamous scanty ; their 

 pillows 7 by 5 inches, small matrasses and woollen blankets, hardly 

 together weighing seven pounds." Every six men slept together, in a 

 partition 5 feet long and 6 feet broad. When the men were tired lying 

 on one side, they had all to turn at the same time to the other side. Now 

 if it had been possible that the bedding contained infested straw, every- 

 body will agree that its use for three months and a half by soldiers placed 

 so uncomfortably is more than the most persistent Hessian fly would be 

 able to stand. The idea that camp straw had been conveyed by the 



