3^8 



FARxMERS' REGISTER— MOTH-WEEVIL. 



The first 10 or 12 days of September were un- 

 commonly warm, after which followed several ve- 

 ry cold nights, and fires were required. On the 

 16th, another examination was made. Nearly all 

 the winged insects were then dead. The damage 

 had so much increased in the preceding 15 days, 

 that out of 492 grains, which the ear (A) had, all 

 except 3 contained either the maggots of weevil, or 

 had holes from which the perfect insects had es- 

 caped. Many grains had 2 holes, and one was ob- 

 served with 3. All the grains of the ears of large 

 corn seemed to be as completely riddled, though 

 only one row, taken at random as a sample, was 

 counted : and in that every grain was eaten, and 

 some contained two maggots. There is no ques- 

 tion, but that there had been produced in this draw- 

 er more weevil than there were grains of wheat. 



EXPERIMENT ll. 



The other three rare-ripe ears were placed (June 

 24th) in a small and very close drawer within my 

 desk, into which no weevil could possibly have pe- 

 netrated, and from which light was entirely, and 

 fresh air nearly excluded, except at the short spaces 

 of time when it was opened for examination. These 

 ears were looked at every two or three days : and 

 between the 4th and 10th of July, 3 grains on one 

 of them (B) were observed to have maggots. — 

 These had not yet opened their way through the 

 skin of the grain, though its transparency rendered 

 the holes below, as visible as if the weevil had al- 

 ready taken flight. These grains were nearer to 

 the bottom than the top of the ear. The three 

 maggots were killed as soon as discovered, by 

 thrusting a pin into their cells ; and the car con- 

 taining them, (B) and one of the other two, (C) 

 without any mark of weevil, were removed to ano- 

 ther similar and close drawer, in the same desk, 

 and completely secured from the access of weevil 

 without. These were frequently examined until 

 September 16th, and no weevil hole was formed in 

 either, after the destruction of the three maggots in 

 one of the ears. 



EXPERIMEXT III. 



The fourth ear (D) was left in the first small 

 drawer, and with it was put (a few days after, or 

 about the 15th of July,) an ear of pop corn, con- 

 taining inclosed maggots, the cells of which were 

 visible — and also a few of the winged insects. — 

 This ear was sometimes examined through the 

 magnifying glass, but no eggs, or small maggots, 

 were observed on the outside of the grain, (as was 

 seen by T. S.) until the 1st of September, when 

 two slender white worms, with yellowish heads, 

 were seen crawling on the corn. They quickly 

 escaped from observation by burying themselves 

 between the grains — and to that haste to escape 

 from light, when taken from the perfectly dark 

 drawer, may be attributed my general ill success 

 in observing the worms before they penetrated the 

 grain. They were so small as to be hardly per- 

 ceptible to the naked eye, when in motion, and not 

 until they had been first discovered through the 

 glass. At no time could I distinguish eggs — 

 though there was plenty of matter of some kind 

 ejected by the weevil, whenever they were on the 

 wing, and this might have containedeggs, and ex- 

 hibited them to nicer observation and a more pow- 

 erful magnifier than mine. 



By th% 2nd of September, the weevil were nu- 

 merous on this ear, but much less so than on those 

 in the large drawer. On the 16th of September, 

 the grains having perforations visible on the expos* 

 ed parts (as they stood on the ear) were counted, 

 and found to be 270 out of 484, the whole number 

 then on the cob. As no grains were cut open, nor 

 even slielled off, to aid this examination, many or 

 all of the grains which were counted as free, might 

 have contained young weevil. The maggot is not 

 visible to superficial observation, until it is almost 

 or quite grown : and many Aveevil eat out of the 

 grain below, where they cannot escape, and die 

 there without being seen. At this time, (as in the 

 other drawer,) nearly all the winged insects were 

 killed by cold, and the very few remaining alive 

 seemed to be dying — and their propagation and in- 

 crease, for that season, were supposed to be ended, 

 and the experiment closed. For this reasen, the 

 ear was thrown aside. This is to be regretted — for 

 a very warm spell soon came on, which brought 

 out plenty of weevil elsewhere, and would proba- 

 bly have shown almost every grain of this ear to 

 be tenanted, as well as those used in the 1st expe- 

 riment. This however is only conjecture. 



It should have been stated, that the winged in- 

 sects attempted to escape from this drawer, when- 

 ever it was opened, and that for this reason, the 

 number of breeders was diminished. 



EXPERIMENT IV. 



On Sept. 2nd, I gathered from my field an ear 

 of the common large corn, of which the grains 

 were firm and ripe, but far from being dry or 

 shrunken. The ear was so closely covered by its 

 shuck, that no weevil could possibly have pene- 

 trated beneath, for the purpose of depositing its 

 eggs on the grain. From the lower half of the ear, 

 19 grains were taken off by digging them out of 

 the cob, with a knife — they were so soft at the heart 

 that they could not have been shelled off without 

 being broken at bottom. These grains were im- 

 mediately put into the drawer with the ear (D) 

 used for experiment 3. 



On the IGth of September, a weevil maggot 

 nearly half grown, was found exposed to the eye, 

 in the germ of one of these grains, in a small wound 

 made by the knife. This was destroyed in the ex- 

 amination. In two other grains, worms were seen 

 (by using the glass) just beneath the thin transpa- 

 rent skin of the grain, which they had apparently, 

 burrowed along under, like a mole under the sur- 

 face of the earth. This would not have been ap- 

 })arent to any but very close observation. The 

 vibratory motion of the yellow heads of the worms, 

 caused their presence to be sufficiently evident, 

 though when still, the speck was scarcely percep- 

 tible. That the proof might be furnished, that 

 these were weevil, and of course from eggs recently 

 laid, the grains were placed in paper, and carried 

 in my pocket, that they might not want enough 

 warmth to continue to live and grow. A few other 

 maggots soon became visible in other grains ; and 

 by the 29th, they had shown in 12 of the grains, 

 and in several of them by the cells appearing, 

 merely covered by the skin of the grain, but pro- 

 ving that the insect was nearly ready to come out 

 in a perfect state. On the 6th of October, the last 

 examination was made. At that time, one of the 

 winged insects had left its cell, and was found dead 

 within the paper covering. This was enough to 



