MAGGOTS. 407 



Mr. Stickney's experiments,* contrary to the conclusions of 

 Reaumur, indicate that these larvae devour the roots of grass ; 

 and Stewart 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."t 



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 destroyed by them, being ren- 

 dered as completely brown as if they had suffered a three 

 months' drought, and destitute of all vegetation except a 

 few thistles. A square foot of the dead turf being dug up, 

 210 grubs were counted on it; and, what furnishes a strik- 

 ing proof of the prolific powers of those insects, last year it 

 was difficult to find a single one.";]: 



It is worthy of remark that the mandibles of these de- 

 structive creatures, which are claw-shaped and transverse, 

 do not act against each other as is usual among insects, but 

 against two other pieces which are immoveable, convex, 

 and toothed, — as if the under-jaw in quadrupeds were 

 divided into two, and should act vertically on the two 

 portions of the immoveable upper-jaw thrown in between 

 them. 



The maggot of a minute fly of the same family, known by 

 the name of the wheat-fly (^Cecidomyia Tritici, Kirby and 

 SpexCe), is frequently productive of great damage in the 

 crops of wheat. Its history was first investigated by 

 Marsham, and subsequently by Kirby and Spence, and 

 several other intelligent naturalists. The parent fly is very 

 small, not unlike a midge (CuUcoides piincfafa, Latr.), of an 

 orange colour, and wings rounded at the tip, and fringed 



* Obs. on the Grub. f Elements, ii. 267. 



t lutr. i. 318, note. 



