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362 On the Origin of Ergoi. 
many grains of rye are punctured, which are not materially 
injured thereby. . The orifice closes before a sufficient quan- 
tity of juice has escaped to produce fermentation and decay. 
This may, therefore, be assigned as one reason why cloudy 
and wet seasons, are so much more productive of ergot, than 
those which are fair and dry. 
of any insect. I therefore conclude that the puncture of the 
fly is for the purpose of extracting its food from the rye, and 
not for the deposition of its eggs. 
The fly is of the hairy or bristly species of Musca, and 
also a species of the ‘ blow fly.’ [t deposits its eggs upon 
animal flesh, either fresh or putrid. Its wings are transpar- 
ent, abdomen dark green, larger than the common house fly; 
in this climate, in the months of July, August, and Septem- 
ber, the most numerous species of tbe fly, and very annoy- 
ing to horses, oxen, and some other animals. 
he above statement, contains all the material facts, which 
have fallen under my view, in relation to the cause of ergot ; 
and how far they go to support or oppose either of the theo- 
ries heretofore adopted upon the subject, I submit. to the 
decision of others. 
In the conclusion of this article, perhaps it may not be 
improper to state some facts in relation to the effect which 
the ergot produces upon the health of the plant, on which it 
grows. I was never able to discover that the culm of rye 
was in the least affected by the ergot ; but | have observed 
that invariably, where there were to the number of eight or 
ten grains of ergot, no healthy or sound rye could be found 
in the same head. In such cases it appears that all the 
nourishment which the culm affords, is exhausted by the 
ergot, and the rye suffers a severe blight. 
The size of the ergot is usually in proportion, to the num- 
ber of grains in the same head. For when we find but one 
grain in a rye-head, it is generally from ten to fourteen lines 
in length, and two or three in diameter ; but where there are 
from twenty-five to thirty grains, which is not unfrequent, 
_ their dimensions are proportionably less, being often not 
_ greater than sound rye. 
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