DECEMBER. 265 



nomus attack nuts and stone-fruits. Among the other 

 orders, it is more particularly the Lepidoptera and Diptera 

 which in the larva state live on fruit ; the plum, apple, and 

 pear are attacked by a small Moth, Tinea Pomona; another 

 infests the chestnut ; and the larva of the Moth Pyralis 

 fasciata lives in grapes, destroying the largest and most 

 beautiful fruit. Many of the Dipterous maggots distort 

 plants by the excrescences they raise ; others attack the 

 ripening ears of corn ; one of these produces the Fly called 

 by Kirby Tipula tritici. The roots of plants furnish a 

 supply of food to other species. The Coleopterous genus 

 Elater attacks the roots of corn ; one, whose larva is 

 calkd the Wire-worm, frequently does much mischief ; the 

 thick yellowish larvae of the MelolontUdce and Cetonidw, 

 which in the beetle-state feed on leaves, devour in their im- 

 perfect form the roots of plants. The Melolontha vulgaris 

 is very voracious ; Dr. Burmeister mentions an instance in 

 which the fields belonging to a farmer near Norfolk were 

 entirely destroyed, and eighty bushels of the larvae were 

 collected. Radishes, carrots, and onions are all infested with 

 the maggots of various Plies ; as well as the cauliflower and 

 cabbage. Trees are also much injured by the larvae of 

 Beetles, instances having occurred of whole pine-forests in 



