INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 191 



than the cabbage ? Besides the same insect, which in- 

 jures them in a similar way, in some countries they are 

 infested by the caterpillar of a most destructive moth 

 (^JVoctua Brassicce, ¥.), to which indeed I have before 

 alluded^; whicli, not content with the leave?, pene- 

 trates into the very heart of the plant^. — One of the 

 most delicate and admired of all table vegetables, con- 

 cerning which gardeners are most apt to pride them- 

 selves, and bestow much pains to produce in perfection, 

 I mean the cauliflower, is often attacked by a fly, which 

 ovipositing in that part of the stalk covered by the earth, 

 the maggots when hatched occasion the plant to wither 

 and die, or to produce a worthless head*^. Even when 

 the liead is good and handsome, if not careftilly exa- 

 mined previous to being cooked, it is often rendered 

 disgusting by earwigs that have crept into it, or the 

 green caterpillar of Papilio Rapce, L. 



Our peas, beans, carrots, parsnips, turnips, and pota- 

 tos are attacked in the garden by the same enemies that 

 injure them in the fields ^ ; I shall therefore dismiss tliera 



' See above, p. 30. ^ De Geer, ii. 440. 



•^ Perhaps this fly is the same which Linne confounded with Musca Lar- 

 varum, L., which he saj's he had found in the roots of the cabbage {Syst. 

 Nat. 99^2. 78.). I say " confounded,''^ because it is not likely that the same 

 species should be parasitic ia an insect, and also inhabit a vegetable. 



' In lately examining', however, some young garden peas and beans 

 abnnt four inches high, I observed the margins of the leaves to be gnawed 

 koto deep scollops by a little beetle {CurcuUo lineaiui, L.), of which I 

 found fiom two to eight on each pea and bean, and many in tiie act of 

 eating. Not only were the larger leaves of every plant thus eroded, but 

 ia many cases the terminal young shoots and leaves were apparently ir- 

 reparably injured. I have often noticed this and another of the short- 

 snouted Curculios {C. tibialis, Herbst) in great abundance in pea and 

 bean fields, but was not aware till now that either of them was injurious 

 to these plants. Probably both are so, but whether the crop is materi- 

 ally aflectcd by fheai must be left to further inquiry. 



