250 Mr. "i^l A-^%11 AtiC s Ohfervations onike InfeSl 



of later authors, which attaches itfclf to decayed leaves, &c. The 

 hycDperdon itfelf is very minute, and before its bui-fting has the ap- 

 pearance of a flattifli, fmooth, irregular, yellow exudation, or gum*. 

 The firft ftep towards putrefaction, either in plants or animals, is a 

 well-known invitation to numerous kinds of infeifts ; and therefore 

 the (hrinking of the grain, or the abortion, alluded to by Liriha:us 

 when he fays Thrips phyfapus '■'■ /picas fecaks inafiit" may have arifen 

 from fome other caufc than the depredation of infciSls. — Gleichen, 

 who was in fearch of microfcopic obje£fs, and confequently turned 

 his attention to the fincular and elefrant ftruilure of the various 

 parts of minute infects, does not mention that the fmallefl: injuty 

 was done to the grain by the Thrips, which, he fays, " habitat in tritici 

 Jpicis,'' and he figures feveral other fpecies found on diftcrent flowers. 

 That wheat is not the only plant on which the I' hrips phyfapus is to 

 be met with, mud be evident to every entomologift; for it is fcarcely 

 poflible to gather any flower during the whole fummer, and even 

 in the fpring, without finding it in numbers ; particularly the 

 compound flowers of the Syngenefta clafs, fuch as the Leontodon Ta' 

 raxacum, on which I have always found them in the greateft num- 

 bers in their three ftates. Befides, I am not quite fatisfied that this 

 infedt, notwithftanding its very minute fizc, is not carnivorous, as 

 moft if not all the Cimices and other hemipterous infeds are. The 

 minute larva of the Mufca has alfo that appearance; and, I am in- 



* This opinion feems tonfiimed in a fenfible, well-written letter, in the Gentleman's 

 Magazine for Auguft 1795, page 627, figned A. O. O. which I have but very lately feen. 

 The writer's fentiments feem entirely to coincide with mine on this fubjefl:. — In the 

 fjme Magazine and page, another writer, under the fignature C. takes notice of the 

 larva of the Mufca, and the fmall Ichneumon fly, of the former of which he has added a 

 tolerable figure : but although the body of the fly conveys fome idea of the animal, yet 

 the antennfe and legs bear no refemblance to any infe£t. This fly, which he miftakes 

 for the parent of the larva, is moft alTuredly its enemy, as 1 have mentioned in the firfir 

 part of my obfervations. 



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