4*78 Canadian Record of Science. 



it still upright, they would bite it off' further up, until it fell 

 over, or the end came within their reach, when they would 

 either devour the grain or draw it to their nests, which 

 were commonly under the roots of stumps. Over acres on 

 acres they left not a stalk standing nor a grain of wheat, 

 to reward the labours of the farmer. Trenches were dug, • 

 and when it could be done, filled with water, but they 

 formed only a slight barrier to their ravages. When the 

 grain was consumed, they so far burrowed in the ground as 

 to attack the potatoes. 



The result was that while in the older settlements, where 

 the clearings were large, people by great effort managed to 

 save a small part of their crops, in the back settlements and 

 in clearings near the woods, all their crops were destroyed, 

 with the exception of the hay, and that was much damaged. 



5. Their departure. — As described to me by residents in 

 the county of Pictou, they passed away as rapidly as they 

 came. In the autumn, as the weather became colder, they 

 became languid, scarcely able to crawl. One could trample 

 them under his feet, and finally they died in hundreds, so 

 that they could be gathered in heaps, and their putrefying 

 carcases might be found in some places in such numbers as 

 to taint the air. The reason assigned for this by the com- 

 mon people, was that they had eaten all the grain or other 

 suitable food, and that they had nothing to subsist on but 

 raw potatoes, which proved unwholesome. 



But Dr. McDonald says that, after haying, millions of 

 fleas (?) could be seen upon them, and that, to rid them- 

 selves of these tormentors, they rushed to the nearest river 

 or pond and were drowned in great numbers. None of my 

 informants in the county of Pictou speak of anything of 

 this kind, but it is commonly reported that at Cape George 

 they took to the salt water and died, their bodies forming 

 a, ridge like seaweed along the edge of the sea, and codfish 

 being caught off the coast with carcases in their maws. 



At the northwestern part of the district, another cause 

 was assigned as a means of their destruction. Mr. Samuel 

 Waugh, of Tatamagouche, mentioned to me that winter set 

 in early, with one of the most remarkable sleet-storms ever 



