250 Mr, Mar. sham' J Obfer-vations on the Infect 



of later authors, which attaches itfelf to decayed leaves, &c. The 

 Lycoperdon itfelf is very minute, and before its burfting has the ap- 

 pearance of a flattilh, fmooth, irregular, yellow exudation, or gum*. 

 The firft ftep towards putrefaction, either in plants or animals, is a 

 well-known invitation to numerous kinds of infects ; and therefore 

 the fhrinking of the grain, or the abortion, alluded to by Linnasus 

 when he fays Thrips phyfapus ^ f pic as fee ales inanit" may have arifen 

 from fome other caufe than the depredation of infecls. — Gleichen, 

 who was in fearch of microfcopic objects, and confequently turned 

 his attention to the fmgular and elegant ftructure of the various- 

 parts of minute infects, does not mention that the i mailed injury 

 was done to the grain by the Tbrips, which, he fays, " habitat in triticl 

 fpicis" and he figures feveral other fpecies found on different flowers. 

 That wheat is not the only plant on which the thrips phyfapus is to 

 be met with, mu ft be evident to every entomologift; for it is fcarcely 

 poiTible to gather any flower during the whole fummer, and even 

 in the fpring, without finding it in numbers ; particularly the 

 compound flowers of the Syngencfia clafs, fuch as the Leontodon Ta- 

 raxacum, on which I have always found them in the greatefr. num- 

 bers in their three dates. Befides, I am not quite fatisfied that this 

 infect, notwithstanding its very minute fize, is not carnivorous, as 

 mod; if not all the Cimices and other hemipterous infects are. The 

 minute larva of the Mufca has alio that appearance; and, I am in- 



* This opinion feems confirmed in a fenfible, well-written letter, in the Gentleman's 

 Magazine for Augtrft 1795, page 627, figned A. O. O. which I have but very lately feen. 

 The writer's fentiments feem entirely to coincide with mine on this fubje£t. — In the 

 fame Magazine and page, another writer, under the fignature C. takes notice of the 

 larva of the Mufca, and the fmall Ichneumon fly, of the former of which he has added a 

 tolerable figure : but although the body of the fly conveys fome idea of the animal, yet 

 the antennre and legs bear no refemblance to any infect.. This fly, which he miftakes 

 for the parent of the larva, is mod afiurediy its enemy, as I have mentioned in the firfb 

 part of my obfcrvations. 



clined 



