234 Rev* Mr. Kirby'j Hifiory of 



yet I have fcarcely ever found more than one pupa in an ear, and 

 had to examine feveral to meet with that. What then becomes of 

 the remainder of the larvse ? Are they deftroyed by that of the Ich- 

 neumon f or do they become the prey of fome other infect ? or do 

 they fall to the ground when they aflume the pupa, and remain there 

 until the following Spring ? To give a pofitive anfwer to any one 

 of thefe queries I fhall not pretend ; I will only relate circumftances, 

 and point out what from them appears to me to be moft probable. 

 The pupae that I have obferved have generally been fomewhat at- 

 tached to the grain, and, what is worthy of notice, I never found 

 them within thofe florets where the larvae had taken up their refi- 

 dence ; they feem invariably to choofe for their habitation, in their 

 intermediate (late, one where the grain is uninjured, to which they 

 may attach themfelves. A queftion here arifes, how they contrive 

 to get from one floret to another, having no feet? but as I have 

 never feen them do this, I will not attempt to conjecture how they 

 do it. In the field above-mentioned, I took up many roots of ftub- 

 ble, with a large lump of earth round them, to fee if I could dif- 

 cover any of the pupae concealed in it ; but if they were there, they 

 efcaped my eye, from their minutenefs: yet it feems not probable, nor 

 analogous to the general proceedings of nature, that it fhould be in- 

 different to them whether they go under ground, or remain in the ear, 

 when they aflume the pupa. That they are deflroyed by any other 

 infect than the Ichneumon, I have no reafon to believe, having never 

 feen them attacked by any other; therefore it feems to me moft proba- 

 ble that this little friend to man is the deftroyer of by far the greatefr. 

 part of them. If this be the cafe, what a benefactor to the human 

 race is this diminutive animal ! and how ought we to admire and 

 adore the wifdom and goodnefs of Divine Providence, in thus fetting 

 bounds to the ravages of an infect, which, however infignificant it 



may 



