44 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



" leave off their pride and vanity, and humble themfelves in 

 " their drefs. Along with the account the fame perfon had fent 

 Ci a piece of the faid gauze, folded round a piece of paper, of 

 Cc the fize of a quarter of a meet both in breadth and length. 

 " This I examined, and found that it refembled a cobweb in 

 "- finenefs^ but differed in other refpecls vifibly. It was very 

 " ftrong, and would bear pulling in any part before it would 

 " tear ; which our cobwebs wont, for a large fly will tear them. 

 " Vide Frantz. inHift. Animal, c. xiii. tra£t. 4. p. m. 869, 870; 

 iC the fpeculative fpeech of Thales to Solon fetting afide the blowing 

 cc it to pieces, and deftroying it with a bare finger, as is daily expe- 

 u rienced. And further, this Norvegian gauze, when laid out of 

 " the hands, would curl up together, and, as often as one had a 

 " mind, might be ftretched out without any hurt ; which a cob- 

 * web will not bear ; for when you take that off from the walls, 

 ce &c. it curls up together like the rind of warm bacon, and is 

 " like a thick thread, and fcarce poffible to be unfolded above 

 (c once, and brought to its former breadth ; not to mention 

 " many more things, in which it differs." So far Happelius of 

 Prsetorius. 



Some years fince it was obferved in the diocefe of Chriftianiarid,* 

 for ieveral miles round, that there were no leaves on the oak 

 trees, they were all confumed by a kind of fmall Worms, which 

 were afterwards transformed into a flying infecT: of a white colour. 

 Thefe creatures were all blafled afterwards, and fell on the ground 

 in fuch heaps, that it appeared like the cherry-tree bloiTom 

 when it is blown, and falls on the ground. ' 



To the former clafs, or fbme other nearly related to it, one 

 might perhaps refer thofe fmall Worms which are faid to fall with 

 the fnow in the Spring of the year, tho' that feldom happens 

 after the trees have budded ; for if it does, the young fhoots 

 ufually decay. 



SECT. VIII. 



smaiiworms j t ^ f •£■ t ^ t [ n ^ Spring fome times there falls down with 



that fall witn £ O - , \ r 



the fnow. the fnow a fort of Worms larger, and more conlpicuous : thele 

 are thick and longifh, of a dark colour, and they do much mis- 

 chief to the greens, and may be counted a plague. 



Anno 1684, which was a dry year, thefe were found in incre- 

 dible numbers, fwarming together ; and where-ever one took the 

 moft pains to deftroy them, they increafed the fafter ; they did 

 pkgue. -not hurt the corn, but deftroyed all other kind of green. In 

 the year 1709 the fame fwarm, which feemed an^ inftrument in 



the 



