( 307 ) 



Moreover, I have given a drawing of the bark or fhell of the 

 Nutmeg, when broken hi two, having firft ftiick a pin into the place 

 through which the firing, wliich I have been defcribing paiies, in 

 order more plainly to fhew the nature of it. Tliis is reprei'ented at 

 fig. 20, ST V, in which figure, W X is the pin, marking the place 

 through which the firing palled, and at Y is a kind of protuberance 

 on the infide of the fhell ; in the nut itfelf is a cavity correfponding 

 with it, and above this cavity, is the place where the firing is united 

 to the nut ; but the firings are almofl always broken from the Nut- 

 megs before they arrive in Europe, becaufe the nuts in drying, or by 

 the evaporation of their moiflure, become fmaller, whereas the hard 

 fiiell dries and fhrinks little or nothing, fo that the nut getting loofe 

 within, does, by its weight break off the firing, and, when fliaken in 

 the fliell may be heard to rattle. 



At fig. 21, F G H, is a drawing of a piece of the fhell at that end 

 next the tree, and at K is the round hole I have mentioned, in one 

 of which holes, I found a flying infe61; : in this figure alfo, that part 

 of tile firing conveying the nourifhment to the nut, and which here, 

 is joined to the tree, is fhewn at IKL : this fhell being removed, I 

 found that the animal had penetrated into the nut as I have before 

 obferved. 



Fig. 22, MNO, reprefents the nut itfelf, in which the above men- 

 tioned fmall hole, is fliew-n between P and O : at this place, the 

 young plant is fituated in the nut, and here alfo, as far as I have ever 

 obferved, the infecls penetrate the nuts becaufe it is the foftefi: part 

 of the fruit, and contains the Icafl of the oil. 



Since we now fee, tliat thefe creatures, not only when maggots, 

 but alfo when changed into flying infe61s, feed on thofe parts of the 

 nut where the oil leafi: abounds, we may readily conclude that, how- 

 ever minute, they are very pernicious to Nutmegs. In the flate of 

 flying infc61s, however, they are not, in my opinion, fo hurtful on 



