Legal Entomology. ye all and every one to disappear, during the next six days, from every place where food grows for man or beast. If ye are not obedient, I enjoin ye to appear on the sixth day, at one o'clock in the afternoon, at Willisburg, before the Archbishop of Lausanne." This was such a case of hanging first and trying after, that we are not surprised the beetles did not appear. If the Archbishop had really wanted them to come, he should have made his summons returnable after dark and then have lighted his candles and opened his windows : then they would have come buzzing and droning in fast enough, we trow. The poor things sleep in the day-time. Coun sel had been graciously assigned to them — the advocate Perrodet. True, he had been dead' six months, but that was not considered a drawback. (Perhaps it was considered that while lying quietly in his grave he might the more readily consult with clients who spend some three years of their lives beneath the sod. At all events, we Anglo-Saxons should not sneer at the retaining of M. Perrodet for the defense after his funeral, for in the Dooms of Ine (cap. 53) provision is made for the taking of the evidence of im portant witnesses after they had dropped the obolus into the hands of the Stygian ferry man.) Unfortunately, neither the counsel nor the accused attended at court, so judg ment was given against the chafers by de fault. We regret greatly Perrodet's neglect. A speech by him, delivered in sepulchral tones, while clad in a winding-sheet instead of a gown, would have been effective upon the court. The sentence was, of course, excom munication in the name of the Holy Trinity and the Blessed Virgin; and the hideous and degraded creatures, the grubs, " were ordered to quit forever the diocese of Lausanne." (" History of Swiss Reformation," by Ab. Ruchat.) The first recorded trial of insects took place in Laon, A.D. 1120. These were cater pillars; and some sixteen other cases are known, ending with the ants above-men
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tioned. In the " Memoires de la Societe Royale Academique de Savoie " is an ac count of proceedings instituted in 1587 against some beetles that were playing havoc in the vineyards of St. Julien, near St. Julien de Maurienne. It appears that in 1545, these, or similar creatures, had made an at tack upon this territory, and legal proceed ings had been commenced against them; the inhabitants had chosen a lawyer to look.after their interests, and one had been appointed to defend the insects, when suddenly the beetles all disappeared, so the law-suit had to be abandoned. However, the action was resumed in 1 587, the beetles having returned in great numbers, and the devastation being greater than ever. The court addressed a complaint to the vicar-general of the bishop of Maurienne, who named a judge to hear the case, and counsel to plead for the ac cused. The vicar also published an order of proceedings, which included processions, prayers, etc. After argument it was decided that the inhabitants of St. Julien must pro vide a tract of land away from the vineyards, where the beetles could live without inter fering with the vines. The court particular ized the size of the land, and that it must contain trees, herbage, and grass in sufficient quantity and of good quality. The inhabi tants deemed it best to accept this judgment without further appeal, and promised on cer tain conditions to cede certain land in favor of the coleoptera " en bonne forme et vallable a perpetuyte," on condition that in case of war they might take refuge there, and re serving a right of way through it, " sans causer touttefoys aulcung prejudice a la pasteure des dictz animaulx: et parce que ce lieu est une seure restraite en temps de guerre, vu qu'il est garni de fontaynes qui serviront aux animaulx susdictz." The de cree was amended to cover these points, and on June 29, 1587, the conveyance was exe cuted. Apparently these hard-shells were slow in moving into their appointed home, for we find that on the celebrated fourth of
