ihiit infe/ied the Corn in the Tear 1795. 245 



** which was lately found in the ears of wheat, through all its 

 " changes; but am forry to fay that my rcfearchcs have not been 

 " attended with that fuccefs I could wilh. I have never met with 

 " it in the ftate of a fmall ivhiic larva, as you defcribe it to be at 

 *' firft. But whenever I have feen it, its firfl: ftate was a very fmall 

 "caterpillar or larva, of a bright yellow colour, which had neithei' 

 " legs, anteims, nor wings (See tab. 22, fig. i and 2), and which 

 '• changes into an cgg-fhaped cbryfalis of the fame colour (See tab. 

 •' 22, fig. 3 and 4.). 



" In my former letter to you, I fpeak of this larva as being found 

 " only between the outer hulks or fcales of the calyx. But this is 

 " not always the cafe ; for I have fmce found it between the corolla 

 " and the grain, and even on the grain itfelf ; but amongft the vaft 

 *' number of grains which I have examined, I could never clearly 

 " difcover that this infect had eaten into any of them. I have fre- 

 *' quently found it fitting on fine full grain, which did not appear 

 " to be injured in the leaft. Sometimes indeed I foimd it on grain 

 " that was blighted, or flirivelled ; but even then I could not dif- 

 " cover that it was eaten i)y the infedt. In thofe ears where I 

 *' found theie infects (to the number, perhaps, of two or thiee, 

 " feldom more, in one ear), the grains were in general full, and not 

 " eaten at all. In one car, containing 33 grains, I found four of 

 " thefe infects, three of them on one fingle grain ; yet neither that, 

 *' nor any of the other grains in the fame ear, was eaten in the 

 " Icaft. In ihort, from all that I have been able to obferve, I am 

 " perfuaded that the wheat has received no damage from thefe very 

 " minute infeils; for, being fo minute, they muft abound in im- 

 *' menfe numbers to do any material mifchief, even fuppofing them 

 *' to feed on the grain; neither of which is, I believe, the cafe:. 

 *' for their numbers were, comparatively fpeaking, fmall ; in mofl 



" of 



