1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



75 



rieil into the fii^lil ;i liirsxe transparent bottle, which 

 I liall tilled with earili ; npon tliif; earth I lieposi- 

 led about a dozen of lite worms, which were then 

 devouring the corn, and ijave then) corn blades to 

 leed upon. In a lew weeks, or lefs, perhaps, iliev 

 disappeared ; I searched the earth, and tifund theni 

 chrysaiids, enveloped in balls ofearih. A considvM-- 

 nble time aCier, I a^ain examined ihem, and Ibund 

 prveral of them matured, and exiricated Iron) their 

 envelo|ie ; others, a soft and while pupa, with 

 limbs more or less distinctly lormed, in various 

 states of proirression, and exhibiting unefiuivocal 

 j)roor of their oriL'in, and of the impossibility of 

 mistake or deception. These destructive anintals 

 belong to their order '' coleoptera'" of Liniiu'us 

 havmir criifitaceaas elytra, or winir cases, wliich 

 shut toirether, and Ibrni a longitudinal suture 

 down the back ; they are about one quarter of an 

 inch in length, of a shining jet black color, very 

 quick and active in their movements, and are seen 

 in vast numbers under wheat stacks and in wheat 

 yards. 



The brief history of this insect is, that its larva, 

 or caterpillar, having led upon the young corn, de- 

 scends mio the eardi about the depth ol' ibur 

 inches, where it assumes its state of chrysalis, in 

 which it continues until the first of July, when it 

 becomes metamorphosed into the imago, or parent, 

 which in autumn, deposites its ova in the fields, to 

 undergo a similar series of transitions, which is 

 eti'ected by the heat of the ensuing season. 



The obvious preventive is i'all or winter plough- 

 ing, at such a depth as will turn up and expose to 

 the frost the ova, whereby they nuist perish. 



To prove the efficacy of this niethod, in Decem- 

 ber 1S36, a field which I designed for corn, was 

 ploughed Ibur or five inches deep ; the Ibllovvitig 

 season, my neiglibors" corn fields, ,as well as ihuse 

 of the county generally, were assailed and nciuly 

 ruined by this destructive worm, when mine was 

 almost wiiolly exempt from tlu'ir annoyance. 



Another insect, the "cu.-cw//ri," of which iliere 

 are ne^u■ly one huruired species, belonixing also to 

 the cde ipterous order, commands, from its univer- 

 Bil ravair 'f, upon both the larmer and ihe f.uite- 

 rer, the atic.iiion of every member ol the com- 

 numity, who has it in his |)ower to contribute, in 

 the smallest measure, to llie destniclion of this 

 ru bless Ibe to the wealth and luxury of man ; 

 which frustrates, by its concealed and wily move- 

 meats, the; most rational and well ibimded plans, 

 executed by the most ardent and efficient ener- 

 gies of the human mind and body. Are we not 

 inclined to exclaim, wiih the moral and pbili- 

 eophical Seneca, '■^Nutura quum te coliimis inventi 

 qiioquey How repiiunant to the proud lieefnirs 

 of man, to stoop to combat with this insignificant 

 animalcule? How resistlesss are the ordinances 

 of nature, which compel us, by acts so humilia- 

 ting, to admire and adore that complex creation, 

 whereby the great architect has been fit to enlorce 

 them ! 



I have made experiments on the larvx of seve- 

 ral species of curciilinnes, and have Ibund the par- 

 ents so nearly similar in /tai/7c<, metainorphoses, 

 and most other circumstances, that one description 

 will suffice for their whole history ; at least of 

 those which I have examined ; and the only mark 

 of idiocrasy in the tribes which 1 have observed, 

 consist in their choice of a nidus : selectintr, from 

 their peculiarities in this respect alone, the clicrry, 



the plum or the grain of corn, as their instinclivo 

 or innate profiensities might incline them. 



In a transparent bottle containing some earthy 

 I deposited several cherries, in which were tho 

 /(7rf<E of the ci/»"cy//'o, that inlest that fruit; in a 

 lew weeks, or rather as soon as the pulp of the 

 fruit was consumed, which was at liilierent pe- 

 riods, they retreated iiiln the earth, where npou 

 exandnaiion some time alter, I (bund they had as- 

 sumed the state of chry-alis, which sbf)rlly result- 

 ed in that of the irnngn or parent ; the wings of 

 the insects were not sidlicient to accomplish a 

 fliixht, hut merely to assist its ascent of the body 

 of a tree ; from wdiich circumstances, I w-as led to 

 the following reflections and experiments to test 

 their correctness : 



That the remedy must be such as would act, 

 physically, to wit— to interrupt the metamorpho^ 

 ses, by preventing the descent of the larvce into 

 the earth; to expose to the weather, ihe pripa, 

 after its descent; or to intercept in its ascent of 

 the body of the tree, the parent insect ; or, chemi- 

 cally — by substances, known to be generally dele- 

 terious to that class of animals. 



The fruit being the vidus of the ovum, and the 

 earth the habitat, in which it is brought to matu- 

 rity and makes its abode, and the larva, from its 

 soft and delicate structure, incapable of travelling, 

 or sustaininrr exposure ; when the fruit containing 

 the larva has fallen and is rotted and consumed by 

 the insect, Ihe larva vtvsi descend, by the most di- 

 rect route from its original depository, the fruit, 

 into the earth, its permanent abode, there to un- 

 dergo the metamorphoses, which will bring it to 

 maturity, and fit it fur a new series of depreda- 

 tions, v/hich is so secretly peribrmrd, that though 

 myriads are employed, they are never executed in 

 deteciin<r their work of des'ructiMon, the deposiie 

 of ilieir (va. Hence I concluded, that one of the 

 most ell'ectual iievenlives, would lie paving wuli 

 brick, s'one, shells, or some o her hard subslarice^ 

 impervious to the soft larva, a circular sj ace round 

 the fruit iree, as exts-tisive as the lall of the lii:it; 

 by which it would be interrupted in its descent 

 in the earth, and consequently perish ; oril'ai it 

 might be accomplished, by turning up the earth 

 under the ir<'e to the same extent, and thereby ex- 

 posing ti ibe inclemency of the weather, the 

 tender pupa, of which two methods, the Ibrmer is 

 lobe fvtelened; because thendiyyou arrest the 

 passage of the larva to maturity, and necessarily 

 destroy it. The latter method, if not perlbrmed 

 in time, may allow tfie feriection of the in-.agn, 

 and in this state it is unquestionaiily more hardy 

 and capable of providiusji: another habitation, a-a 

 secure and comfortable as that of its fiist election. 

 And by the experiments which I have made, ita 

 descent and maturity are at uncertain and iir;e(iual 

 periods, v.'hich would make an insuperabie diffi- 

 culty, in point of time, for perlbrming ihe opera- 

 tion ; if before the descent, it v.'ould necesFnrily liQ 

 useless ; if after the maturity, etjually so, lor rea- 

 sons give.n. 



This view of" the sidiject, has? led me. repea'ed- 

 ly, to both expeiimeniR, which I have liiirly and 

 impartially made without the infiuence of any 

 prejudice,' which it mifht be presumed, my rea- 

 soning had connected with, or in liivor of tlie f()r- 

 mer; the result was, the liuit with which I maile 

 the experiment that bad Iteefi destroyed by cvrcv- 

 liunes, for many years, were in uil cases, when I 



