5-16 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



pillars of Gaatropacha neuslria and Episema ceeruleocephala are the 

 most common and the most dangerous. 



The different kinds of corn, as well as the grasses in general, are 

 less attacked by leaf-devouring caterpillars, yet the caterpillar of 

 Episema graminis has been observed to destroy them *. The numerous 

 members of the order of the Orthoptera feed very generally upon these 

 plants, but they do not despise even others. Thus the grasshoppers 

 can be fed with all kinds of leaves, but they seem to prefer those of 

 grass to all others. One insect of this order, the migratory locust, has 

 acquired a widely dispersed notoriety from the devastating expeditions it 

 undertakes in immense hosts, and it has thence been unjustly considered 

 as an introduced insect. This it is certainly not, it being indigenous with 

 us (Germany), and it is only occasionally that it appears in vast hosts, 

 which quit their birth-place from having there destroyed all their 

 vegetable food, and they proceed further to seek fresh. We will refer 

 to Kirby and S pence for a full account of their mode of migrating, as 

 well as for the details of their several excursions, and merely mention 

 that an instance of this occurred in June, 1832, near the Bavarian town 

 Weissenburg. They passed from east to west over the town, in some 

 places but a few ells above the surface, and their number was so great 

 that it took three quarters of an hour for the entire swarm to pass. 

 Wind and rain, which speedily came on, adds the informant, prevented 

 further observation t. 



These remarks sufficiently prove how many insects derive their food 

 from leaves, and how great the destruction is when their numbers dis- 

 proportionately increase : we will now proceed to notice those insects 

 which attack by preference the fruit and stem. 



305. 



Upon returning to the order of the Coleoptera, we immediately find 

 a large family among them which are chiefly occupied with the destruc- 

 tion of the seeds of plants, namely, the Curculios (Rhynchophora}. The 

 majority of the species have their peculiar plants upon which they live, 

 and in the fruits of which they are found as larvae. In the large genus 

 Bruchus, which is the nearest allied to the Curculios, all the species 

 whose transformations we are acquainted with live as larvae in seeds. 



* Germar's Mag. vol. iii. p. 433. 



-f Vossischf Ferliner Zeitung for the 21 June, 1832. 



