The Dor. 555 



the leaves of all the trees, for several miles round, were 

 destroyed, leaving the whole country, though it was near 

 midsummer, as naked and desolate as it would have 

 been in the middle of winter. The noise which these 

 enormous swarms made, in seizing and devouring the 

 leaves, was so loud, as to be compared to the distant 

 sawing of timber. Swine and poultry destroyed them 

 in vast numbers ; waiting under the trees for the clus- 

 ters of insects to drop, and then devouring such swarms 

 as to become fat upon them alone. Even the native 

 Irish, from the insects having eaten up the whole pro- 

 duce of the ground, adopted a mode of cooking them, 

 and thus used them as food. Towards the end of the 

 summer they disappeared so suddenly that in a few days 

 there was not one left. 



Eooks are very fond of eating these grubs, and often, 

 when they are seen in a newly-sown field, apparently 

 devouring the grain, they are, in fact, rendering the 

 greatest service to the farmer, by destroying his great 

 enemy, the white worm. 



THE DOE, OR BLIND BEETLE. 



(Geotrupes stercorarius.) 



THIS well-known insect, which is sometimes also called 

 " the shard-borne beetle," has been often noticed by the 

 poets. Amongst others, Shakespeare makes Macbeth 

 say : 



" Ere to black Hecate's summons 

 The shard-borne beetle, with its drowsy hum. 

 Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done 

 A deed of dreadful note." 



This beetle, which is a British insect, lays its eggs in 

 a mass of cow-dung, which it afterwards buries in the 

 earth. It makes a dull drowsy noise when it flies, and 

 often strikes itself against any person or object it may 

 meet, as though it were blind. It has also the habit of 

 stretching out its limbs and pretending to be dead when 

 caught. 



