As late as 1731 there appears an entry on the Municipal Register of Thonon as follows: "RESOLVED, That this town join with other parishes of this province in obtaining from Rome an excommunication against the insects, and that it will contribute pro rata to the expenses of the same." Did any one venture to deny that animals could be possessed by Satan, he was at once silenced by reference to the entrance of Satan into the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and to the casting of devils into swine by the Founder of Christianity himself.( 361) (361) See Menabrea, Proces au Moyen Age contre les Animaux, Chambery, 1846, pp.

31 and following; also Desmazes, Supplices, Prisons et Grace en France, pp.

89, 90, and 385-395.

For a formula and ceremonies used in excommunicating insects, see Rydberg, pp.

75 and following.
One part of this superstition most tenaciously held was the belief that a human being could be transformed into one of the lower animals.