S42 Mr. W. Mills on the Corn ff^eevil. 



you, but which, if such be the case, I am sure you will excuse. An 

 old medical gentleman assured me that he considered the wings and 

 crustaceous parts of the Weevil so heating to the system as to be 

 almost as injurious as cantharides taken internally on a slow scale. 

 And when we consider the quantity of bread which is imbued with 

 them in warm climates, it is decidedly worth attending to for 

 the sake of a purer food. I am aware that weevils, when once 

 brought amongst corn, continue to breed by laying the egg in wheat. 

 But how do they first get there at all ? Nature has supplied them with 

 wings, so that the reaching of the blossom for the purpose of laying 

 the egg is perfectly attainable to them. In almost all the instances 

 I have alluded to the insect was in the heart, and the farina formed 

 all round it without a wound of any nature. Amongst rice and 

 other grain I believe them to be communicated entirely in store, or 

 in a ship, which amounts to the same thing. 



