( *39 ) 



XX". Hi/lory ofTipula Tritici, and Ichneumon tfipula^ <with fome Obfer- 

 vations upon other In/efts that attend the Wheats in a/ Letter to Thomas 

 Mar/ham, Efq t Sec. L. S. By the Rev. William Kirby, F.L.S. 



Read February 6, 1 798. 



my dear friend. Barham, Sept. 29, 1797. 



^fHEN you left me in July laft, you defired me to continue 

 my obfervations upon thofe infects that infeft the wheat; 

 and particularly to endeavour to complete the hiftory of the larva, 

 of which you have given an account in the 3d vol. of the Tranf- 

 actions of the Linnxan Society*, and which, with great juflice, you 

 fuppofe to be the principal enemy of the grain. In compliance with 

 this requeft, I have endeavoured to trace it through all its metamor- 

 phofes, and to afcertain, in fome meafure, the quantity of mifchief 

 which it is capable of doing — with what fuccefs you fhall now hear; 

 and I fhall add fuch other circumftances relative to this and other 

 infects which attend the wheat, as have occurred to my obfervation. 

 What I have collected, although far from being a complete hiftory 

 of all the infeft infefters of that grain, may afford fome few hints 

 which may poflibly be of ufe to aflift the in ve (ligations of abler 



* Tranf. Linn. Soc. vol. iii. p. 242. Tab. xxii, fig. 9. 10. 11. r2. 



Naturalifts, 



