that infejlcd the Corn in the Tear 1 795. 249 



** Larva citron-coloured, without feet, head acute, tail truncated, 

 " margined with a plicato-papillofe margin; length three- fourths of 

 " a line. This fpecies I found between the corolla and the grain. — 

 ** Of the other two, the one was lodged in the kernel, and the other, 

 " which was a long (about five lines) hexapod, very fwilt, devoured 

 " it with extreme voracioufnefs. This is all I have been able to 

 *? collect upon this fubject ; and I wifh it may prove fatisfa&ory to 

 ** you and the Linnean Society, and ferviceable to the public. We 

 " cannot help reflecting, on this occafion, what feemingly fmall and 

 " infignificant creatures may, in the hand of Divine Providence, 

 " become the caufes of the moil alarming vifitations ; and, if allowed 

 " to increafe to a certain pitch, almoft of the deftruction of the hu- 

 u man race.'' 



From the obfervations and accurate inveftigation of my friends 

 above mentioned, it {hould appear, that very little damage to the 

 wheat is to be dreaded from the havock of the infects they have 

 defcribed. It is, indeed, rather unfortunate that none of us could 

 fucceed in breeding the fly, which the fmall larva, remarked by us 

 all, is deftined to produce. — From Mr. Kirby's letter, and the re- 

 marks of the farmer, the Thrips phyfapus is the infect that is fup- 

 pofed to do the mifchief ; and this feems confirmed by the great 

 Linna3us, and alfo by Gleichen (in a French work on the micro- 

 fcope) quoted by Gmelin, and to fuch authorities it is with the 

 utmoft diffidence I hazard a contrary opinion. I cannot, however, 

 help Hating that opinion, being perfuaded that the attachment of 

 this minute infect to the grain arifes from the grain being fir ft in a 

 difeafed ftate, of which the orange-coloured powder, called by many 

 farmers the red gum, feems a proof. For this powder, you in- 

 formed me, was not the excrement of an infect (as I had fuppofed), 

 but the farina or feed of a fmall Lycoperdon of Linnxus, or ALcidium 



Vol. III. Kk of 



