208 ON THE BLIGHT OF OAKS IN THE 
Eden before them, and behind them a desolate 
wilderness ; yea, and nothing shall escape them. 
The appearance of them is as the appearance of 
horses; and as horsemen so shall they run. Like 
the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall 
they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that de- 
voureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle 
array. Before their face the people shall be much 
pained: all faces shall gather blackness.” From 
this dreadful scourge, and from other plagues of a 
similar though less distressing character, the inhabi- 
tants of the British Isles are, fortunately, in a great 
measure, exempt. Still they do, occasionally, experi- 
ence much inconvenience, both as regards their 
persons and property, from noxious animals of this 
class. A multitude of examples confirming the 
truth of this remark might easily be adduced; but 
as lengthy details, relative to a matter of such general 
notoriety, would, in all probability, be deemed super- 
fluous, I shall, in the present instance, limit my obser- 
vations to a single case, in which the oaks in ‘the 
vicinity of Manchester were nearly stripped of their 
foliage by two minute species of insects. 
Early in May, 1827, the Green Weevil (Curculio 
argentatus) appeared in unusual numbers in this 
neighbourhood, and by its extensive ravages greatly 
disfigured many of our most ornamental trees and 
shrubs; the copper-beech im particular, in some 
situations, suffered severely. Towards the termina- 
