LETTER VIII. 



INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



INDIRECT INJURIES CONCLUDED. 



I HAVE not yet arrived at the end of my catalogue of 

 noxious insects. I have introduced you, indeed, to those 

 that annoy man in his own person, in his domestic ani- 

 mals, in the produce of his fields, gardens, orchards, and 

 forests ; in a word, in every thing that is endued with the 

 vital principle : but I have as yet said nothing of the in- 

 juries which he receives from them in that part of his 

 property, consisting either of animal or vegetable matter, 

 from which that principle is departed. And with these I 

 shall conclude this melancholy detail of evils inflicted 

 upon us by the very animals I am enticing you to study. 

 The rest of my correspondence, I flatter myself, will 

 paint them in more inviting colours. 



The insects to which I now allude may be divided into 

 those that attack and injure our food, our drugs and 

 medicines, our clothes, our houses and furniture, our 

 timber, and even the objects of our studies and amuse- 

 ments. 



Various are those that attempt to share our food with 

 us. Flour and meal are eaten by the grub of Tenebrio 

 Molitor, best known by the name of the meal-worm, 

 which will remain in it two years before it goes into its 

 state of inactivity : its ravages however are not confined 



