that infejled the Corn in the Tear 1 795. 249 



'* Larva citron-coloured, without feet, head acute, tail truncated, 

 " margined with a plicato-papillolc margin; len2;th three- fourths of 

 " a hne. This fpccies I found between the corolla and the grain. — 

 " Of the other two, the one was lodged in the kernel, and the other, 

 " which was a long (about five lines) hexapod, very fwift, devoured 

 " it with extreme voracioufnefs. This is all I have been able to 

 " collect upon this fubje6l ; and I wifli it may prove fatisfafliory to 

 " you and the Linnean Society, and ferviceable to the public. We 

 *' cannot hclprefleding, on this occafion, what feemingly fmall and 

 *' infiguificant creatures may, in the hand of Divine Providence, 

 " become the caufcs of the mofl alarming vifitations ; and, if allowed 

 " to increafe to a certain pitch, almoft of the deftrudlion of the hu- 

 " man race." 



From the obfervations and accurate inveftigation of my friends 

 above mentioned, it {hould appear, that very little damage to the 

 wheat is to be dreaded from the havock of the infe6ls they have 

 defcribcd. It is, indeed, rather unfortunate that none of us could 

 fucceed in breeding the fly, which the fmall larva, remarked by us 

 all, is deftined to produce. — From Mr. Kirby's letter, and the re- 

 marks of the farmer, the Thrips phyfapus is the infect that is fup- 

 pofed to do the mifchief ; and this feems confirmed by the great 

 Linnasus, and alfo by Gleichen (in a French work on the micro- 

 fcope) quoted by Gmelin, and to fuch authorities it is with the 

 utmoft diffidence I hazard a contrary opinion. \ cannot, however, 

 help ftatiug that opinion, being perfuaded that the attachment of 

 this minute infcfl to the grain arifes from the grain being firft in a 

 difeafed ftatc, of which the orange-coloured powder, called by many 

 farmers the red gum^ feems a proof. For this powder, you in- 

 formed me, was not the excrement of an infe£t (as I had fuppofed), 

 but the farina or feed of a fmall Lycopcrdon of Linnseus, or Mcidium 



Vol. III. K k of 



