236 M E M O 1 R S of the 
would let go their holds, and drop to the ground from the 
branches onvvhich they ftuck, which fall was iufficient quite to 
difable them, and fometimes entirely kill them ^ nay, it was ob- 
lervable, thst even when they were moft vigorous, a flight blow 
would for fome time dun them, if nor deprive them of life : 
During thefe unfavourable fealons of weather, the fwine and 
poultry would watch under the trees for their falling, and feed 
and fatten upon them^ and even the poorer fort of the native 
Jrifiy the country then labouring under a fcarcity of provifions, 
had a method of dreffing them, and lived upon them as food ; It 
was foon found that fmoke was very offenfive to thefe flies j and 
by burning heath, fern, and fuch like weeds, they fecured their 
gardens, and prevented their incurfions, or if they had already 
entred, they drove them out again: Towards the latter end of 
fummer, they conftantly retired of themfelves, and wholly dis- 
appeared in fuch a manner, that in a few days you could not lee 
one of them left; Ibme thought, that they took their flight, like 
iwallows and other birds of paflage, to a more diftant country 
and warmer climate 5 but the true rcalbn of their difappearing, 
Dr. Molyncux takes to be, that after the time of their coition is 
over, it being about that time that they are oblerved to couple, 
by faftening to each other by their tails, they retire under ground, 
in order to lay their fpawn there for a fucceeding generation, and 
]ikewife to compofe themfelves to lleep for the reft of the enfuing 
year, as feveral other animals are known to do • as fnails, amongft 
jnlc^Sis, the hedge-hog amongft the beafts, and the Ortygometra^ 
or rail, amongft the birds 3 and what farther confirms this opinion 
is. that in the fpring-time, on digging or ploughing up the 
ground, great nefts of them were frequently diicovered and 
broken up, where whole bufhels were found together in one heap, 
but in fuch a quiet condition, that they ieemed to have but little 
life and motion 3 theft large caverns, to which they retired, were 
often met with under a firm, folid Inrface of earth, and no ma- 
nifell pafTage could be difcovcred, by which they could get in. 
In fummer 1(^95 or pij, all along the fbuth-welt coaft of the 
county of Gal-ivaVy for ibmc miles together, there were found 
dead on the fliore fuch infinite numbers of them, and in fuch vafl 
heaps, that by a moderate computation there could be no lefs 
than 40 or 50 horie-Ioads in all 3 thefe, according to Dr. Atoly- 
rieuny were a new colony, or lupernumerary fwarm, from the 
iamc place whence the firft ftock came in 1688, driven by the 
wind to iea from their native land, which lie takes to be Nor- 
mandy or Brittany in Trance^ it being a country much infefced 
with 
