Article from Country Life magazine, May 14 2025 by Agnes Stamp which references the book. Includes a close up of the cockchafer beetle showing antennae with fan structures on the end, about the same size as the face. Excerpt from the article: " It flies with a hum and bad steering, may clatter into almost anything, whereupon it often falls to the ground on its back, legs flailing. ....in a court at Avignon, France, in 1320, local may bugs were commanded to retire to a designated area on pain of death, an example of the bizarre medieval practice of animal trials."
OK, this is new to me, but only 706 years old news.... Medieval courts tried insects.
Thank you to the author of An Insect a Day, Dominic Couzens, and columnist Agnes Stamp....
#Cockchafer #AnimalTrials