522 SUPPLEMENT 



" These insects were first noticed in this kingdom in 1688. 

 They appeared on the south-east coast of Galway, brought 

 thither by a south-west wind, one of the most common, I 

 might almost say, trade-winds of this country. From hence 

 they penetrated into the inland parts towards Heddford, 

 about twelve miles north of the town of Galway. Here and 

 there in the adjacent country, multitudes of them appeared 

 among the trees and hedges in the day-time, hanging by the 

 boughs in clusters, like bees when they swarm. In this pos- 

 ture they continued, with little or no motion, during the heat 

 of the sun ; but towards evening or sun-set, they would all 

 disperse and fly about,' with a strange humming noise, like 

 the beating of distant drums, and in such vast numbers, that 

 they darkened the air for the space of two or three miles 

 square. Persons travelling on the roads, or abroad in the 

 fields, found it very uneasy to make their way through them, 

 they would so beat and knock themselves against their faces 

 in their flight, and with such a force as to make the place 

 smart, and leave a mark behind them. In a short time 

 after their coming, they had so entirely eat up and destroyed 

 all the leaves of the trees for some miles round, that the 

 whole country, though in the middle of summer, was left as 

 bare as in the depth of winter, and the noise they made in 

 gnawing the leaves, made a sound much resembling the 

 gnawing of timber. They also came into the gardens and 

 destroyed the buds, blossoms, and leaves of all the fruit-trees, 

 so that they were left perfectly naked ; nay, many that were 

 more delicate than the rest, lost their sap as well as leaves, 

 and quite withered away, so that they never recovered again. 

 Their multitudes spread so exceedingly, that they infested 

 houses, and became extremely offensive and troublesome. 

 Their numerous young, hatched from the eggs which they 

 had lodged underground, near the surface of the earth, did 

 still more harm in that close retirement than all the flying 



