popular SKrtumarj) of &mmatctr $atttrc. 315 



The best modes of preventing the ravages 

 of the Hessian fly are thus stated by Mr. 

 Herrick, in the ' American Journal of 

 Science,' vol. 41. " The stouter varieties of 

 wheat ought always to be chosen, and the 

 land should be kept in good condition. If 

 full wheat is sown late, some of the eggs will 

 be avoided, but risk of winter killing the 

 plants will be incurred. If cattle are per- 

 mitted to graze the wheat fields during the 

 fall, they will devour many of the eggs. A 

 large number of the pup may be destroyed 

 by burning the wheat stubble immediately 

 after harvest, and then ploughing and har- 

 rowing the land. This method will un- 

 doubtedly do much good. As the Hessian 

 fly also lays its eggs, to some extent, on rye 

 and barley, these crops should be treated in 

 a similar manner." It is found that luxu- 

 riant crops more often escape injury than 

 those that are thin and light. Steeping the 

 grain and rolling it in plaster or lime tends 

 to promote a rapid and vigorous growth, and 

 will therefore prove beneficial. Sowing the 

 fields with wood ashes, in the proportion of 

 two bushels to an acre, in the autumn, and 

 again in the first and last weeks in April, 

 and as late in the month of May as the sower 

 can pass over the wheat without injury to 

 it, has been found useful. Favourable re- 

 ports have been made upon the practice of 

 allowing sheep to feed off the crop late in 

 the autumn, and it has also been recom- 

 mended to turn them into the fields again in 

 the spring, in order to retard the growth of 

 the plant till after the fly has disappeared. 

 Too much cannot be said in favour of a 

 judicious management of the soil, feeding off 

 the crop by cattle in the autumn, and burn- 

 ing the stubble after harvest ; which will 

 materially lessen the evils arising from the 

 depredations of this noxious insect. Mr. 

 Hardy has described aud given the history 

 of the British species. 



HETEROCERA. A section of Lepidop- 

 tera, agreeing with the Linnaean genera 

 Sphinx and Phalcena. It derives its name 

 from the diversified formation of the an- 

 tennae, which are never terminated by a club, 

 like those of the butterflies, but are generally 

 setaceous, filiform, or fusiform, those of the 

 males being moreover often furnished with 

 lateral appendages, forming branches. The 

 caterpillars are much varied, but the pupse 

 are generally of a conical form, and are or- 

 dinarily enclosed in a cocoon, the quiescent 

 state being often undergone in the ground. 

 M "lorn entomologists have found much diffi- 

 culty in defining the various groups which 

 compose the Creptiscularia and Nocturna, 

 and our space precludes us from entering at 

 large upon any subject where much un- 

 certainty exists ; nor, indeed, is it essential 

 that we should do so. Mr. Westwood ob- 

 serves^ that " Urania, Castnia, Agarista, 

 Sphinx, ^Egeria, and Anthrocera are groups 

 of equal value among themselves : and on 

 account of the peculiar conformation of their 

 antennae, they were united into one group 

 by Linnaeus, who, it is well known, con- 

 sidered this character as of the highest im- 

 portance. Take, for instance, the three 



English groups, Sphinx, JEgeria, and An- 

 throcera, and we find the first isolated : the 

 second, in its fenestrated wings, approaches 

 some of the Sphingidae, but its metamor- 

 phoses are totally different, resembling those 

 of Cossus ; whilst Antlirocera, on the other 

 hand, is, in its preparatory states, a Bombyx, 

 and in its final one probably intermediate 

 between Macrpglossa and Pyralis ; .<Egeria, 

 nevertheless, is not farther removed from 

 Sphinx than is Castnia or Urania, nor than 

 Hepialus or Lithosia are from Attacus, in 

 the tribe of Bombycidx. Geometra, Tortrix, 

 Noctua, &c., in their extended state, are 

 groups admirably defined, and yet it is im- 

 possible to look at Euclidia, Acosmetia, Nola, 

 or Platypteryx, without perceiving either 

 that we must extend the limits of our fami- 

 lies, so as to admit these anomalous groups, 

 or create a far greater number of families 

 than has hitherto been done." * * * " With 

 regard to the primary groups of the Hete.ro- 

 ccra, I candidly admit that I am not able to 

 offer a satisfactory classification, although 

 it seems unquestionable that Sphinx (or the 

 Hawk-moths), Bombyx (or the feather- 

 horned full-bodies), Noctua (or the thread- 

 horned full-bodies), Geometra (or the loop- 

 ers) Pyralis, Tortrix, and Tinea, are, as Lin- 

 naeus considered them, amongst the primary 

 types." 



HETEROCERLD^E. A family of Coleop- 

 terous insects, of small size and subaquatic 

 habits : body depressed ; legs broad, com- 

 pressed, and serrated ; the thorax much nar- 

 rower than the elytra ; the jaws robust ; 

 and the antennae short. These insects bur- 

 row in the mud of the banks of ponds or 

 stagnant water, out of which they make 

 their escape when the earth is shaken or 

 stamped upon, and again as quickly bury 

 themselves in the mud. Their bodies are 

 clothed with a fine silky pubescence, whereby 

 the action of the water upon them is pre- 

 vented. They walk but slowly ; yet they 

 are sometimes observed in the hot sunshine 

 to raise their wings, fly off, and again alight, 

 with all the agility of the tiger-beetles. 

 There is every reason to suppose them to be 

 carnivorous. 



HETEROMERA. A section of the Co- 

 leoptera, comprehending those beetles which 

 have five joints in the tarsus of the first and 

 second pairs of legs, and only four joints in 

 the tarsus of the third pair. This division 

 includes several extensive groups, the ma- 

 jority of the species of which feed upon vege- 

 table substances : some are gaily coloured, 

 and such are generally found in flowers ; 

 others, which frequent dark and damp places, 

 are uniformly black : whilst those which in- 

 habit the sandy deserts of tropical regions 

 are of various obscure shades of gray or 

 brown. 



HETEROPODA. An order of Mollus- 

 cous animals, closely allied to the Gastero- 

 poda, but distinguished from them and all 

 others by the structure and position of the 

 foot, which is compressed, so as to constitute 

 a vertical muscular paddle, or fin. The gills 

 are external, and form plume-like tufts, 



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