264 LARV^ OF THE TIPULA. 



For this information I am indebted to my friend, 

 James Grimshaw, jun. Esq., of Whitehouse, one of 

 the original members of our Natural History Society, 

 who thus communicated the fact as it fell under his 

 observation ; — 



" In the spring of 1817 the ravages committed by 

 the larvae of the Tipula were so great, that many crops 

 of clover and grass, in the neighbourhood of Imrgan, 

 were lost, and almost all, with very few exceptions, 

 materially injured. I was at that time staying with 

 an intimate friend, Mr. Christy of Kircassock, who 

 complained that whole fields, which were laid down 

 in grass and clover, were so infested by what is usually 

 called the cut- worm, — that he had nearly come to the 

 resolution of again breaking up the fields, and plant- 

 ing them anew. My friend was accounted one of the 

 best agriculturists in the district ; and, by careful 

 examination, he ere long discovered the destroyer, 

 and the remedy soon followed. He took me to seve- 

 ral fields to show me the cause of the evil. When 

 he removed the earth with his hand, to the depth of 

 about an inch, the part which was laid bare appeared 

 quite alive with a thick short grub of a dirty green- 

 ish appearance. These grubs attacked the roots of 

 the grass, and the weather being remarkably dry, the 

 crop soon perished. At that time, in fields where 

 the verdure one day appeared lively and green, in 



