26 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



repose. As soon as evening approaches, they begin to buzz about 

 among the branches, and continue on the wing till towards 

 midnight. In their droning flight, they move very irregu- 

 larly, darting hither and thither with an uncertain aim, hitting 

 against objects in their way with a force that often causes them to 

 fall to the ground. They frequently enter houses in the night, 

 apparently attracted, as well as dazzled and bewildered, by the 

 lights. Their vagaries, in which, without having the power to 

 harm, they seem to threaten an attack, have caused them to be 

 called dors, that is darers ; while their seeming blindness and 

 stupidity have become proverbial, in the expressions, "blind as a 

 beetle," and " beetle-headed". Besides the leaves of fruit-trees, 

 they devour those of various forest-trees and shrubs, with an 

 avidity not much less than that of the locust, so that, in certain 

 seasons, and in particular districts, they become an oppressive 

 scourge, and the source of much misery to the inhabitants. 

 MoufFet relates that, in the year 1574, such a number of them fell 

 into the river Severn, as to stop the wheels of the water-mills ; 

 and, in the Philosophical Transactions, it is stated, that in the 

 year 1688 they filled the hedges and trees of Galway, in such in- 

 finite numbers as to cling to each other like bees when swarming ; 

 and, when on the wing, darkened the air, annoyed travellers, and 

 produced a sound like distant drums. In a short time, the leaves 

 of all the trees, for some miles round, were so totally consumed 

 by them, that at midsummer the country wore the aspect of the 

 depth of winter. 



Another chafer, Anomala vitis F. is sometimes exceedingly 

 injurious to the vine. It prevails in certain provinces of France, 

 where it strips the vines of their leaves, and also devours those of 

 the willow, poplar, and fruit-trees. 



The animals and birds appointed to check the ravages of these 

 insects, are, according to Latreille, the badger, weasel, martin, 

 bats, rats, the common dung-hill fowl, and the goat-sucker or 

 night-hawk. To this list may be added the common crow, which 

 devours not only the perfect insects, but their larvae, for which 

 purpose it is often observed to follow the plough. In " Ander- 

 son 'sRecreations," it is stated that u a cautious observer, having 

 found a nest of five young jays, remarked, that each of these birds, 



