RAVAGES OF MAGGOTS, 255 



very complete, however, was their destruction of the 

 roots on the spot in question, that even now, at the 

 distance of two yeais, it is still visibly thinner of 

 herbage than the parts around it.* 



Reaumur gives a similar account of their ravages 

 in Poitou, where, in certain "seasons, the grass of the 

 low moist meadows has been so parched up in conse- 

 quence, as not to alibrd sufficient provender for the 

 cattle. He describes the soil in Poitou as a black 

 peat mould; and it was the same in which we found 

 them at Blackheath, with this difference, that the spot 

 was elevated and dry. According to M. Reaumur, also, 

 their only food is this sort of black mould, and not the 

 roots of grass and herbage, which he thinks are only 

 loosened by their burrowing. "j" This view of the matter 

 appears strongly corroborated by the fact that several 

 species of the family feed upon the mould in the holes 

 of decaying trees, particularly the larva of a very 

 beautiful one {^Ctenophora jiavtolaia^ Meigen), 

 which is very rare in Britian. It is proper to men- 

 tion, however, that Mr Stickney's experiments, f 

 contrary to the conclusions of Reaumur, indicate 

 that these larvae devour the roots of grass; and Stew- 

 art says they ' feed on the roots of plants, corn, and 

 grasses, and are thence destructive to gardens, fields, 

 and meadows. They prevailed in the neighbourhood 

 of Edinburgh, and other places in Scotland, in the 

 spring of 1800, when they laid waste whole fields of 

 oats- and other grain. '§ 



In many districts of England these insects cut off 

 a large proportion of the wheat crop, particularly, it 

 would appear, when it had been sown on clover leys. 

 ^ In the rich district,' say Kirby and Spence, ' of 

 Sunk Island, in Holderness, in the spring of 1813, 

 hundreds of acres of pasture have been entirely de- 



* J. R, t R aumur, v. 12, &c. 



t Obs. on the Grub. § Elements, ii, 267. 



