50 



" rishes near London, subscriptions have 

 " been opened, and the poor people em- 

 " ployed to cut off the webs at one shilling 

 " per bushel, which have been burnt un- 

 ** der the inspection of tlie churchwar- 

 " dens, overseers, or beadle of tlie parish ; 

 " at the first onset of this business, fbur- 

 " score bushels, as I was most credibly 

 " informed, were collected in one day, in 

 " the parish of Clapham.*'* 



It should be observed, that this gentle- 

 man was induced to publish his account of 

 this moth, to appeasethe minds of the peo- 

 ple. Some of the writers of that day hav- 

 ing asserted that "they were the usual pre- 

 *» sage of the plague," others, *'that their 

 " numbers were great enough to render 

 " the air pestilential, and that they would 

 ** mangle and destroy every kind of vege- 

 " tation, and starvethe cattle in the fields.** 

 It was no wonder therefore, from these 



* This insect forms a web which is attached to 

 the leaves of the trees, and to which it always re- 

 tires at night or in wet weather. Taking the 

 branches of the trees with the web and insect, 

 would certainly appear to be the readiest mode of 

 destroying it. 



