INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 99 



1S33. 1 Even the seeds of grasses have their insect enemies. Mr. H. 

 Gibbs stated at the meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society, May 5, 

 1841, that generally not one in a dozen of the seeds of the Foxtail grasses 

 ( Alopecurus] vegetate, owing to their vitality being destroyed by a small 

 orange-coloured grub (Cecidomyia ?). 2 



Most of the insects I have hitherto mentioned attack our crops partially, 

 confining themselves to one or two kinds only; but there are some 

 species which extend their ravages indifferently to all. Of this description 

 is the Pyralls (?) frumentalis, which moth, Pallas tells us, is an almost 

 universal pest in the government of Kasan in Russia, often eating the 

 greater part of the spring corn to the root. 3 To this we are fortunately 

 strangers ; but another, well known by the name of the wire-worm, causes 

 annually a large diminution of the produce of our fields, destroying indis- 

 criminately wheat, rye, oats, and grass. This insect, which has its name 

 apparently from its slender form and uncommon hardness and toughness, 

 is the grub of one of the elastic beetles termed by Linne Elater linealus, 

 but by Bierkander, to whom we are indebted for its history, E. Segetis* 

 (Agriotcs Iweatus Eschscholtz). The late ingenious Mr. Paul of Starston 

 in Norfolk (well known as the inventor of a machine to entrap the turnip- 

 beetle, which may be applied by collectors with great advantage to general 

 purposes), has also succeeded in tracing this insect from the larva to the 

 imago state. His larvae produced Elater obscunis of Mr. Marsham, which, 

 however, comes so near to E. Segetis that it is doubtful whether it be 

 more than a variety. The other species, however, of the genus have 

 similar larvae, many of which probably contribute to the mischief. When 

 told that it lives in its first (or feeding) state not less than five years, 

 during the greatest part of which time it is supported by devouring the 

 roots of grain, though it will also attack and often much injure turnips, 

 potatoes, &c., you will not wonder that its ravages should be so extensive, 

 and that whole crops should sometimes be cut off by it. As it abounds 

 chiefly in newly broken-up land, though the roots of the grasses supply it 

 with food, it probably does not do any great injury to our meadows and 

 pastures. 5 



.* 



1 Dufour, Ann. Soc. Ent. de France, iii. 19. 



2 Gardeners Chronicle, 1841. p. 311. 



5 Pallas's Travels in South Russia, i. 30. 



4 Marsham in Communications to the Board of Agriculture, iv. 412. Plate xviii. 

 fig. 4. and Linn. Trans, ix. 160. 



5 The wire-worm is particularly destructive for a few years in gardens recently 

 converted from pasture-ground. In the Botanic Garden at Hull thus circumstanced 

 a great proportion of the annuals sown in 1813 were destroyed by it. A very simple 

 and effectual remedy in such cases was mentioned to me by Sir "Joseph Banks. He 

 recommended that slices of potato stuck upon skewers should be buried near the 

 seeds sown, examined every day, and the wire-worms which collect upon them in 

 great numbers destroyed. 



This plan of decoying destructive animals from our crops by offering them more 

 tempting food is excellent, and deserves to be pursued in other instances. It was 

 very successfully employed in 1813 by J. M. Rodwell, Esq., of Barham Hall, near 

 Ipswich, one of the most skilful and best-informed agriculturists in the county of Suf- 

 folk, to preserve some of his wheat-fields from the ravages of a small grey slug, which 

 threaten to demolish the plant. Having heard that turnips had been used with 

 success to entice the slugs from wheat, he caused a sufficient quantitv to dress eight 

 acres to be got together ; and then, the tops being divided and the apples sliced, he 

 directed the pieces to be laid separately, dressing two stetches with them and omit- 



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