2 45 Mr. Marsh a M V Ohfer nations on the Infers 



M I luppoie it is not liable to be hurt. Linnaeus fays of this infect, 

 44 ' Spicai fccaies inanity but nobody feems to have apprehended the 

 * : injury it is capable of doing to wheat. An intelligent farmer, 

 " who fir (I pointed it out to me, allured me that he was firmly 

 44 perfuaded that it was this infect which occafioned what was called 

 " the blight lad year, which was the caufe of fo defective a crop. 

 44 The part of one field that I examined, and which was particu- 

 " larly injured, was to the north of a high edge ; but the above- 

 ••' mentioned farmer informed me that he had found them plentiful 

 " in a very open country. To me they appeared more injurious in 

 44 the heavy than in the light lands. Lad year the bearded wheat 

 44 (called by our farmers clog-wheat) efcaped with the leaft injurv ; 

 " but this year, as far as my information and obfervation went, 

 *' it was the moff. injured. I obferved in one or two infiances 

 44 the Fojjicula auricularia upon the ear; and upon examining the 

 44 grain, each time, to which it had applied itfelf, I found upon it 

 44 the Tbrips. Query : — Does it not devour them ? Gmelin has a 

 44 fpecies of rfhrips under the name of Thrips rufa (GmeL Syji. torn. i. 

 44 pi. 4. Thrips 10.) from a German writer (Gleicben, Neuejfes im Reich: 

 44 der Pfianzjj which I fufpect to be the larva I have been defcribing, 

 44 or perhaps the pupa, which he fays * habitat in tritici fpicis* and 

 44 adds, with a query, * Anforfan larva minutiffima*' The only me- 

 44 thod which can be ferviceable to prevent the ravages of this 

 44 infecl; is, to fow the wheat early. It is probable that it does con- 

 44 fiderable damage every year, as it is a very common infect. Nor 

 " do I imagine it has been more injurious than ufual in the prefent 

 " year, only the fcarcity has excited people's attention to every 

 44 thing that might hurt the grain. J found three other diftinct 

 44 infects, in the larva Hate, upon the wheat, but in no quantity ; two 

 44 of which efcaped me, but one I had an opportunity of defcribing. 



44 Larva 



