THE COASTS OF SAINTOXGE. 345 



some merchant vessel, like certain of the Blattae, 

 has come no one knows from whence, as if to prove 

 to us that travellers have been guilty of no exagge- 

 ration in speaking of this scourge. A rigorous com- 

 parison of these insects in all their different stages, and 

 a thorough investigation of their origin, would alone 

 be able to settle this question.* 



Whatever may be the true state of the case, La 

 Rochelle has undoubtedly experienced the same fate 

 as Rochefort, Saintes, and Tonnay-Charente, and on 

 arriving at the first-named town, I felt assured that 

 I should find these destructive insects. 



I was well aware of the damage which they were 

 capable of accomplishing, for MM. Audouin, Milne- 

 Edwards, and Blanchard had frequently traversed 

 the department of the Charente-Inferieure, and 

 brought back with them to the Museum of Paris 

 several material proofs of the dangers, which those 

 apparently insignificant enemies are capable of inflict- 

 ing on the inhabitants of these districts. These na- 

 turalists had described the sudden manner in which 

 the roofs and floors of houses had crumbled to pieces, 

 and how some buildings were found to be so entirely 

 undermined, that it was necessary either to recon- 

 struct them from the very foundations, or entirely to 

 abandon them. I was very soon able to judge for 

 myself of the accuracy of these reports, although La 

 Rochelle is not nearly so completely infested as the 



* M. Blanchard has already directed his attention to this subject, 

 and we ought to mention that his first results are not favourable 

 to our views. The materials, however, at his disposal were by no 

 means complete. 



