( 33 ) 



that thefe maggots are produced in wheat fpontaneoufiy, that they 

 arc more rarely found in old wheat than in new ; to which I gave 

 for anfwer, that when hrll iiatched, they are very imall and tender, 

 fo that it is difficult for them to pierce the hulkof old wheat, tlie fame 

 being very dry and hard, and confequently many of them die for 

 want of nourifhmcnt. This I fully proved by experiment, for I had 

 three glafles Handing in my lludy, in one of which there were more 

 than fixty maggots newly hatched. In this glafs I put fome grains 

 of wheat, one of which v/as broken, or fplit down the middle, and 

 tliis alone v/as eaten into, the others remaining uninjured, and all the 

 maggots, except one or two, died ; all which, I had no doubt, pro- 

 ceeded from this, that thefe grains of wheat ^^'ere remarkably dry and 

 hard, having been kept for two or three years in a box in my lludy . 

 and in another of the glafies, wherein I obferved the maggots creep- 

 ing about on the furface of tlie wheat, without being able to pene- 

 trate it, I cut feveral of the grains in pieces, and by this means 

 many of the maggots were kept alive. 



Towards the end of the month of September, I received from a 

 baker a handful of very excellent rye, with many of thefe maggots 

 in it, all which I put into a large glafs veil'el, and I obferved the 

 maggots quit the rye and creep up tlie fides of the veflel. 1 then 

 bunit a fmall quantity of fulphur in it, and in a fhort time they were 

 all killed. 



It may not here be unv\orthy of notice, that, in the glafs tube before 

 defcribed, and in which I imagined I had put nothing except wheat, 

 and the caterpillar or maggot, of which I have been treating, I found 

 a Weevil make its appearance : this creature I kept in the glafs to fee 

 if any more would appear, and I obferved, that in the winter or in 

 cold weather it lay motionlefs as dead, but upon applying fome 

 warmth, it v.'ould revive. At length, after keeping it upwards of 

 eighteen months, in which time, I did not obferve any more of the 

 fpecies, it died. E 



