174 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY IXSECTS." 



France than either the weevil or the wolf''. — Here X 

 may just mention a few other insects which devour 

 grains that are the food of man, concerning which I 

 have collected no other facts. The rice-weevil (Calan- 

 dra Otyzce, F.) is very injurious to the useful grain 

 after which it is named, as is likewise another small 

 beetle, JLyctus dcntatiis, P. : and an Indian grain, 

 called in the country Joharre^ which appears to be a 

 species of Holcus or Milium, is the appropriate food of 

 another species of Calandra '*, which I found abundant 

 in it. 



Rye^ in this island, is an article of less importance 

 than wheat ; but in some parts of the continent it forms 

 a principal portion of the bread-corn. Providence has 

 also appointed the insect means of causing a scarcity 

 of this species of food. The fly before noticed {Musca 

 Pumilionis) introduces its eggs into the heart of the 

 shoots of rye, and occasions so many to perish, that from 

 eight to fourteen are lost in a square of two feet. — A 

 small moth also {Pj/raUs Secalis, F.) which eats the 

 culm of this plant within the vagina, thus destroys many 

 ears*^. In common with wheat and barley it also suf- 

 fers from Leeuwenhoek's wolf and the weevil. 



Barley likewise, another of our most valuable grains, 

 has several insect foes. The gelatinous larva of a saw- 

 fly (Tenthredo, L.) preys upon the upper surface of the 

 leaves, and so occasions them to vyither. Musca Hor- 

 dei of Bierkander also assails the plant. A tenth part 



* Oliv. ii. n. 19. 3-4. " Ctirculio testacnt^, Ent. Brit. 



" Marshall! in Linn. Trans, ii. 80. De Geer notices tlie injury done b^ 

 this fly to rye, and observes tliat before it had been attributed to frost. 

 ii. 68. 



