80 OUR FARM CROPS. 



granivorous, or at all events subsisting on the juices of 

 plants. The grubs of the common cock- chafer, Melolon- 

 tha Agricola, and M. Ruficornis, are very injurious to the 

 young plant, as is also the caterpillar of the winter-moth, 

 Noctua Tritici, which attacks both the root and young 

 stem, and leaves, and thus entirely destroys the plant. 



Kollar, in his excellent and interesting work on Insects 

 injurious to Gardens, &c., tells us of a ground beetle, 

 Carabus gibbus, which causes great havoc in the corn-fields 

 on the Continent. In 1812, the whole country round 

 Halle was devastated by swarms of this insect, and so 

 serious was the effect produced, that the authorities con- 

 sulted together respecting its ravages, and the best means 

 of getting rid of it. 



The S 'copula frument alis, or corn-pebble moth, a native 

 of Sweden, whose larva feeds upon the plant, has lately 

 been met with in our corn-fields about the months of June 

 and July. 



Not only have we to contend against the attacks of insects 

 in the field, but they also follow our crops into the granary. 

 Here the greatest losses are inflicted by the numerous 

 family of "weevils" (Curculionidce), most of whom are 

 very destructive. The one most injurious to the farmer 

 is the Calandra granaria, or " corn- weevil," which lives 

 in stored grain, whether it be wheat, barley, oats, rnaize, or 

 rice. Early in the spring, as soon as the weather is warm 

 enough for being natives of southern regions they do not 

 like cold the beetles pair, and as soon as the female is 

 impregnated she buries herself in the heap of corn, makes 

 a puncture through the skin of one of the grains, and 

 there deposits her eggs, one only in each grain. The hole 

 is not perpendicular to the surface, but runs obliquely, or 

 even parallel to it, and the smah 1 aperture is closed by 

 her excrement. The eggs then are safe even if the grain 

 be moved about. The maggots soon hatch and feed upon 



