2^8 -A//-. Marsiiam'j Obferv^itms on the Infecls 



" I fuppofe it is not liable to be hurt. Linnaeus fays of this infecl, 

 " ' Spicas fecales inanity but nobody feems to have apprehended the 

 " injury it is capable of doing to wheat. An intelligent farmer, 

 " who firft pointed it out to me, affured me that he was firmly 

 ♦' pcrfuadcd that it was this infect which occafioncd what was called 

 " the bli"-ht lafl: year, which was the caufe of fo dcfedive a crop. 

 " The part of one field that I examined, and which was particu- 

 " larly injured, was to the north of a high edge; but the above- 

 " mentioned farmer informed me that he had found them plentiful 

 " in a very open country. To me they appeared more injurious in 

 " the han-y than in the light lands. Lafl year the bearded wheat 

 " (called by our farmers clog-wheat) efcaped v/xth. the lead injury ; 

 " but this year, as far as my information and obfervation went, 

 " it was the mod injured. I obferved in one or two inftances 

 " the Foijicuui auricularia upon the ear; and upon examining the 

 " crrain, each time, to which it had applied itfelf, I found upon it 

 " the Thrips. Query : — Does it not devour them ? Gmelin has a 

 " fpecies of T^hrips under the name of Thrips rufa (Gmel. Syjl. torn. i. 

 " pt. 4. Thrips 10.) from a German writer (Gklchen^ Neuejfes im Reiche 

 " derPJlatiz.), which I fufped: to be the larvalh'a.vG been defcribing, 

 *' or perhaps the pupa^ which he fays ' habitat in triiici fpicu^ and 

 " adds, with a query, ' Anforfan larva minutijjimae?' The only me- 

 " thod which can be ferviceable to prevent the ravages of this 

 " infed is, to fow the wheat early. It is probable that it docs con- 

 " fiderable damage every year, as it is a very common infecl. Nor 

 " do I ima"-ine it has been more injurious than ufual in the prefent 

 " year, only the fcarcity has excited people's attention to every 

 «' thing that might hurt the grain. I found three other diftindl 

 " infecls, in the Uwa ftate, upon the wheat, but in no quantity ; two 

 " of which efcaped me, but one I had an opportunity of defcribing. 



" Larva 



