25 6 
COCK-CHAFER. 
where they were brought by a south-west wind. 
From hence they penetrated into the inland parts 
towards Heddford, about twelve miles north of the 
town of Galway ; multitudes of them appeared, in 
the day time, among the trees and hedges in the 
adjacent country, hanging by the boughs in clus- 
ters, like bees when they swarm. In this posture 
they continued, with little or no motion, during the 
heat of the day ; but towards evening, or sunset, 
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. Per- 
sons travelling on roads, or abroad in the fields, 
found it very troublesome to pass through them, as 
they continually flew against their faces with such 
force, that they made the place smart, and left a 
slight mark behind them. In a short time after 
their arrival they had so entirely eaten up and de- 
stroyed all the leaves of the trees for some miles 
round, that the whole country was left as bare as in 
the depth of winter ; and we are assured by Mr. 
Molineux, that the noise which this immense 
swarm of cock-chafers made in gnawing the leaves 
very much resembled the sawing 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 ; and many that 
were more delicate than the rest, lost their sap as 
well as their leaves, so that they gradually withered 
away and died. The multitudes of these insects 
