lo6 Rev. Mr. KiRB\'j Conihmatm of the 



the way to no difcovery of this kind, may it be faid that we have 

 been idly bufy and unprofitably laborious, when we have fucceeded 

 in developing fome of the mofl: curious myfteries of nature, and in 

 laying open the hiftory of fome of thofe fecondary caufes, which, 

 guided by the hand of Providence, produce fcarcity or plenty as the 

 one or the other preponderate ? 



As I made my defcription of Tipula Tritici lafl year from a fingle 

 fpecimen, and that produced before its time, it will hardly be deemed 

 tautology if I draw out a new one ; more efpecially as an error with 

 refpe£l to the colour of its wings, much calculated to miflead an 

 examiner, has crept into it. In my MS. I find it " alh nlbidis^' but 

 I fee it is printed " alis hyalinis,^' an expreffion which completely mif- 

 reprefents their colour. As two new fpecies of Ichneumon are to be 

 defcribed, it may alfo not be amifs to work over again the defcrip- 

 tion of Ichneumon Tipula with a view to them; 



TlPULA rrltlci. 

 T. rufo-fulva ; oculis nigris ; alis lafteo-iricoloribus margine pllofis. 



Famina (c). 



Tota rufo-fulva; thorax intenfius, pedes autem dilutivis. Antenna 

 corpore fublongiores, duodecim-articulatx articulis pedicellatis 



fliort-Gghtednefs, and our ignorance of the other parts of the great plan of Providence. 

 We fee and feel the mifchief occafioned by fuch creatures, but are not aware of the good 

 ends anfwered by them, which probably very much exceed it. I have heard of farmers, 

 who, after having taken great pains to deftroy the rooks from their farms, upon being 

 fuccefsful, have fuffered infinitely more in their crops, from the great increafe of the 

 larvx of infe£l:s, before kept under by thefe birds, than they ever did from the rooks 

 flhemfelves. The fame might be the cafe, could we annihilate the T'ipula of the wheat ; 

 for every link of the great chain of creation is fo clofely connefled on each fide with 

 others, and all parts fo combine into one whole, that it feems not eafy to calculate the 

 confequences that would arifc from the entire removal of the moft infignificant, if any 

 can be deemed fuch, from the fyftcm. (r) Tab. iv. fig. i> 



oblongis 



