LETTER VIII. 



INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



INDIRECT INJURIES CONCLUDED. 



I HAVE not yet arrived at the end of my catalogue of 

 noxious insects. I have introduced you, indeed, to 

 those that annoy man in his own person, in his domestic 

 animals, in the produce of his fields, gardens, orchards, 

 and forests ; in a word, in every thing that is endued 

 %vith the vital principle : but I have as yet said nothing 

 of the injuries which he receives from them in that part 

 of his property, consisting either of animal or vegetable 

 mBXier, from which that principle is departed. And Avith 

 these I shall conclude this melancholy detail of evil in- 

 flicted upon us by the very animals I am enticing you 

 to study. The rest of my correspondence, I flatter my- 

 self, will paint them in more inviting colours. 



The insects to which I now allude may be divided 

 into those that attack and injure our food, our drugs 

 and medicines, our clothes, our houses and furniture, 

 our timber, and even the objects of our studies and 

 amusements. 



Various are those that attempt to share ourj^oc? with 

 us. Flour and meal are eaten by the grub of Tenehrio 

 Molitor, L/., best known by the name of the meal-worm, 

 which will remain in it two years before it goes into its 

 state of inactivity : — its ravages however are not con- 

 fined to flour alone, for it will eat any thing made of that 



