INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 159 



The seeds of forest as well as of fruit trees are doubtless subject to 

 injuries from insects ; but these being more out of the reach of observa- 

 tion, have not been much noticed. Acorns, however, a considerable 

 article with nurserymen, are said to have both a moth and a beetle that 

 prey upon them ; and, what is remarkable, though sometimes one larva of 

 each is found in the same acorn, yet two of either kind are never to be 

 met with together.^ The beetle is probably the Curculio (Balaninus) 

 glandium of Mr. Marsham, and is nearly related to the species whose grub 

 inhabits the nut. 



Having now conducted you round, and exhibited to you the melancholy 

 proofs of the universal dominion of insects over our vegetable treasures 

 while growing or endued with the principle of vitality, in their separate 

 departments, I must next introduce you to a pest worse than all put 

 together, which indiscriminately attacks and destroys every vegetable sub- 

 stance that the earth produces, and which, wherever it prevails, carries 

 famine, pestilence, and death in its train. Happily for this country — and 

 we cannot be too thankful for the privilege — we know this scourge of 

 nations only by report. The name of Locust, which has been such a 

 sound of horror in other countries, here only suggests an object of interest- 

 ing inquiry. But the ravages of locusts are so copious a theme that they 

 merit to be considered in a separate letter. 



I am, Stc. 



» Reaum. ii. 502. 



