Mr. CuKTis's Oq/ervatiom on Jpki Jet. 89 



thefe infe<Sts being comparatively very fraall, they may be confidered 

 cajhiar as the cafual invaders of their exiftence than the main hoft of 

 their deftroyers. 



The Earwig, which is in itfelf no contemptible enemy to plants, 

 makes fomc atonement for its depredations by deftroying the Aphides^ 

 efpecially fuch as refide in the curlcd-up leaves of fruit-trees, and 

 the purfes formed by certain Aphides on the poplars and other trees. 



Laftly, we may add as the enemies of thefe creatures, fome of 

 the {jnaller foft-billed birds, which feed generally on infers, and 

 which rnay frequently be feen bufily employed in picking them 

 from the plants. Their utility did notefcape the obfervation of the 

 pleafing author of the Seafons. We (hall quote the whole of what 

 he writes on this fubje(2;, piefuming that none of our readers will 

 think it too long; remarking, however, that he has fallen into the 

 error of moft others in regard to the manner in which thefe infe(3;s 

 are faid to be brought by the eaftedy winds, and that he confounded 

 the mifchiefs of Caterpillars, with thofe of the Apbh. 



" For oft engender'd by the hazy north, 

 Myiiads oil myriads, infe£^ armies warp 

 Keen in the poilbn'd breeze, andwaileful eat 

 Thro' buds and bark into the blac^en.'d core 

 Their eager way. A feeble race! yet oft 

 The facred fons of vengeance, on whofe courfe 

 Cprrofive famine vyaits, and kills the year. 

 To check this plague, the (kilful farmer chaff. 

 And blazing ftra\y, before his orchard burns, 

 Till, all involv'd in fmoke, the latent foe 

 From every cranny fuffocated falls ; 

 Or fcatters o'er the blooms the pungent duft 

 Of pepper, fatal to the frofty tribe; 

 Or, Vjhen the envenom'd leaf begins to curl, 

 With fprinkled water drowns them in their neft; 

 Nor, while they pick them up with bufy bill. 

 The little trooping birds un wifely fcares. 



Vol. VI. N When 



