58 MECHANICAL FUNCTIONS. 



in such a manner as not to leave a green leaf behind 

 them. 



Devastations committed by this Beetle. In the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions, for the year 1697, there is an 

 account of the appearance of these insects in certain 

 parts of Ireland, and the ravages they committed there. 

 " Multitudes," says this statement, " appeared among the 

 trees and hedges in the day time, hanging by the boughs 

 in clusters, like bees, when they swarm. In this pos- 

 ture they continued, with little or no motion during the 

 heat of the sun ; but towards evening they would all 

 disperse, and fly about with a strange humming noise, 

 like the beating of distant drums, and in such vast num- 

 bers that they darkened the air for the space of two or 

 three square miles. Persons travelling on the roads, or 

 abroad in the fields, found it very uneasy to make their 

 way through them, they would so beat, and knock them- 

 selves against their faces in their flight, and with such 

 force as to make the place smart, and leave a mark 

 behind them. In a short time after their coming, they 

 had so entirely eaten up, and destroyed all the leaves on 

 the trees for some miles around, that the whole country 

 though in the middle of summer, was left as bare as in 

 the depth of winter ; and the noise they made in gnaw- 

 ing the leaves made a sound resembling the sawing of 

 timber. They also came into the gardens and destroyed 

 the buds, blossoms, and leaves of all the fruit trees so 

 that they left them perfectly naked : nay, many that 

 were more delicate than the rest, lost their sap, as well 

 as leaves, and quite withered away, so that they never 

 recovered again. 



Their numerous young hatched from the eggs, which 

 they had lodged under ground, near the surface, did 

 still more harm in that close retirement, than all the 

 flying swarms of their parents had done abroad ; for 

 this destructive brood lying under ground, ate up the 

 roots of corn and grass, and thus consumed the support 

 of both man and beast." Many other instances of similar 

 devastations are recorded to have been committed by 

 these insects in different parts of the world. 



