4o6 On the Gruh'il^ormp . 0£V, 



period the flies extricated themfclves from the huflc, and, to 

 my great furprife, were of the Diptera Clafs, and of that fpe- 

 cies known in the North by the names of Jenny Spinnersy or 

 Long-legged 'Taylors, Sec. Sec. 



The drawing, which I fend you, (Fig. 2.) is made froni 

 one fuppofed to be a female, with a truncated taih Fhofe 

 which I conjefture to be males, have a fliarp-pointed tail like 

 a (ling. 



I aifo fend a drawing of the grub, (Fig. i.) of a medium 

 natural fize ; they were from an inch to an inch and tialf 

 long, of a brown greyilh colour, having two ftreaks of a light- 

 er colour palTing from the neck to the tail, about half way be- 

 tween the back and fides. 



Their depredations were moftly performed in the night, 

 when they came out of their holes, and fed upon the green 

 blades of corn •, and, not content with what they devoured on 

 the fuvface, they' frequently dragged their food into then- noles 

 along with them, to allay the cravings of their voracious appe- 

 tites in the day time. 



In feveral places, they were fo very numerous, that the fur- 

 face of the ground was cornparadveiy as full of holes as a rid- 

 dle, and ten or twelve of them would have turned up by a 

 fingle fcrape with one's foot. 



It may be proper to remark, that their deflrucSlive effe^ls 

 were principally upon ftrong lands and moid foils : Sandy dry 

 foils were perfetlly free from them. A Angular inftance of 

 this happened in a field of my own. A drip of dry loam, a- 

 •bout forty yards wide, run diagonally acrofs the field, upon 

 which the oats were not in the leait injured, nor any grnos to 

 be found ; but, upon each fide of this fiirip, the foil was a 

 ftrong marly clay loam. Here the crop was in a manner to- 

 tally deftroyed, as far as this kmd uf foil reached ; and this 

 with fo much precifion, that, in the latter end of May, thofe 

 parts of the field looked as brown as a bare fallow, while the 

 crop, upon the dry loam, flouririied with tlie moil luxuriant 

 verdure. Many fields of wheat were fo completely deilroyed, 

 as to be 'obliged to be ploughed up for fallow. Some were 

 fown with barley, which were alfo deilroyed. The lols by 

 the ravages of this fpeciet of grub, was, thi^ year, almoft in- 

 calculable, and fuch as no farmer living ever bjfore expe- 

 rienced. I hope they will nev;;r fuftVr a fimilar calamity. 



And am, &c. 



J. B, 



