Mr. Lehm Ann's Qbfervatlons on the Curculio Trifolii. 149 



liun, and other birds of the titmoufe kind (MotacilU, Fan,), 

 Such as efcape their bills are among the firft partakers of the iini- 

 verfal hfe which nature excites in the fpring. Laft year they ap- 

 peared in Suflex in the rac^nth of March, and, in addition to their 

 numerous perfecutors, the Staphylini were then particularly formi- 

 dable to them. 



Surrounded by fo many dangers, whil« feeding on the tender 

 leaves of plants, they are employed in feeking their conforts, until 

 the heads of clover and perhaps other papilionaceous flowers break 

 out, when the female depofits on the cup of the fwelling feed the 

 egg that produces its deftroyer. 



The fecundity of this little infe8: is fo prodigious, that the 

 maggots dellroyed a whole field which the year before, when not 

 a fingle infe6l of this kind was difcovered, produced 70 pounds of 

 feed. There is reafon to believe, however, that the parents of thofe 

 millions were then in your grounds, as, the animal being not only 

 deftitute of wings but alfo very flow in its motion, it is not probable 

 that it could have overrun your field to fuch a degree from a dif- 

 tance in the courfe of one feafon. 



In the hiflory of this, as in almofl: that of every other infecSt, if 

 obferved with attention, the oeconomy of nature appears wonderfuL 

 This little infe<5l feems defigned to prevent the boundlefs increafe 

 of the trefoil, and is itfelf circumfcribed in its numbers by numerous 

 enemies conflantly on the watch to devour it. The female of this 

 infe6l could never lay a great number of eggs if llie had to fearch 

 for flowers fparingly fpread over a large field, as fhe would in that 

 cafe infallibly become a prey to fome of her enemies; whereas 

 in the clover field, where flower preflTcs upon flower, flie may lay 

 ten thoufand in fecret. 



The wolf is extirpated in thefe iflands, formerly its abode. Infe(51s- 

 not lefs formidable and deflrudlive are yet unfubdued. Our cattle, our 



fields' 



