THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 213 



reward, immediately caused to arise liOiii these ashes flies, fleas, lice, bugs 

 and all such v^ermin as feed upon the flesh of living man. 



Our article, however; is to be a legal one, and the trials to which we 

 will allude herein will be only those in which insects have figured as prin- 

 cipals in courts of justice. Some may imagine that the well known maxim 

 of law, '• De minimis non curat lex," would exclude these small fry from 

 Dame Justice's consideration ; but judges and jurisconsults have, in days 

 gone by, paid considerable attention to the insects when their actions have 

 been particularly obnoxious to humanity. 



The delvers into antiquarian lore have brought to light nearly one 

 hundred instances in which noxious animals were arraigned and tried for 

 their misdeeds. The records extend from A. D. 1120 to A. D. 1741, 

 beginning with caterpillars and ending with a cow. Some counsel learned 

 in the law was always assigned to defend the accused. When in the 

 Swiss diocese of Constance, grubs and Spanish flies were cited before a 

 magistrate, he (as Felix Hemmerlin, of Zurich, tells us), taking into con- 

 sideration their youth and diminutive size, appointed an advocate to 

 defend them. 



In 1545 a species of beetle infested the vineyards of St. Julien, near 

 St. Julien de Maurienne ; legal proceedings were begun against them. A 

 lawyer appeared on behalf of the inhabitants, and another was appointed 

 to answer for and defend the little coleopterans. But, as is often the way 

 with criminals, these defendants were not ready for their trial, and so, 

 having not been, bound over to appear, they all suddenly left the country; 

 all proceedings consequently dropped. In 1557 the beetles re-appeared, 

 and did much damage. Again the aid of justice was invoked, her arm 

 uplifted, and the wheels of the law set in motion. Domestic animals, 

 when they sinned against man, were tried in the ordinary criminal courts, 

 and their punishment, on conviction, was death ; but wild animals who 

 offended seem to have been within the special jurisdiction of Mother 

 Church and tried in the ecclesiastical courts, the thunderbolt of the 

 anathema being the judgment usually used against these dumb creatures. 

 Said the learned canonists, " As God cursed the serpent, David the moun- 

 tains of Gilboa, and our Saviour the barren fig-tree, so, in like manner, the 

 Church has full power to exorcise, anathematise and excommunicate all 

 creatures, animate and inanimate." Well, in this case, the Vicar-General 

 of the Diocese appointed a judge to try the beetles and named a lawyer 

 to defend them ; for it was held that they should be treated with the 



