The Cockchafer 
85 
again, though this aspect is overlooked, 
while there are plenty of specimens which 
reside and multiply in England, great 
numbers are migratory. 
An Invasion. — In 1897 I was staying in 
the extreme end of the county of Cornwall, 
near the Land’s End, when a swarm of 
cockchafers from over the Channel paid 
that district a visit. Whether the swarm 
were resting there before going elsewhere, 
or whether a storm had overtaken them, 
I cannot say, but for their purpose the 
district was most unfortunate — barren, 
sterile and destitute of trees, there was 
little for them to feed upon. They poured 
down the chimneys, smothered the carpets, 
covered the table, and on many occasions 
I had to pull the bed to pieces to pick them 
out before retiring. 
In 1688 a district of Ireland was quite 
devastated by them. The story of this 
visitation reads almost like a locust in- 
vasion. The reports of their noise, the 
darkness caused by their vast numbers 
and their destruction are sensational in 
the extreme. 
Diet. — They do not seem to be at all 
