72 CERAMBYCID^ — MUSK- BEETLES. 



lasted for more than forty-two years. At length the inhab- 

 itants proposed to compromise the matter by giving up, in 

 perpetuity, to the insects, a fertile part of the district for 

 their sole use and benefit. Of course the advocate of the 

 animals demurred to the proposition, but the court, over- 

 ruling the demurrer, appointed assessors to survey the land, 

 and, it proving to be well wooded and watered, and every 

 way suitable for the insects, ordered the conveyance to be 

 engrossed in due form and executed. The unfortunate 

 people then thought they had got rid of a trouble imposed 

 upon them by their litigious fathers and grandfathers; but 

 they were sadly mistaken. It was discovered that there had 

 formerly been a mine or quarry of an ochreous earth, used 

 as a pigment, in the land conveyed to the insects, and though 

 the quarry had long since been worked out and exhausted, 

 some one possessed an ancient right of way to it, which if 

 exercised would be greatly to the annoyance of the new pro- 

 prietors. Consequently the contract was vitiated, and the 

 whole process commenced de novo. How or when it ended, 

 the mutilation of the recording documents prevents us 

 from knowing ; but it is certain that the proceedings com- 

 menced in the year 1445, and that they had not concluded 

 in 1487. So what with the insects, the lawyers, and the 

 church, the poor inhabitants must have been pretty well 

 fleeced. During the whole period of a process, religious 

 processions and other expensive ceremonies that had to be 

 well paid for, were strictly enjoined. Besides, no district 

 could commence a process of this kind unless all its arrears 

 of tithes were paid up ; and this circumstance gave rise to 

 the well-known French legal maxim — 'The first step toward 

 getting rid of locusts is the payment of tithes?' an adage 

 that in all probability was susceptible of more meanings 

 than one."^ 



Cerambycidae — Muskbeetles. 



Moufet says: "The Cerambyx, knowing that his legs 

 are weak, twists his horns about the branch of a tree, and 

 so he hangs at ease They thrust upon us some 



* Book of Days, i. 



k\ 



