300 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS. 



Fingers and toes, or clubbing. This is an attack 

 of an insect called Nedyus contractor. They choose 

 the under-ground stems of almost all the Brassica 

 family as a nidus for their young-, inserting their eggs 

 into the vascular pulp beneath the cuticle, where 

 they are hatched, and pass the maggot stage of their 

 life, during which they subsist on the interior, whilst 

 the bark, as it may be called, is monstrously swelled 

 over the inclosed worm. Their presence and havoc 

 within, derange the organisation, diverting the cur- 

 rent of sap so much as greatly to disfigure and injure, 

 if not totally kill, the plant. Cabbage, turnip, broccoli, 

 and many others of the tribe, are the usual prey of 

 this tiny foe. Dry situations, or soils, seem to be 

 more subject to the visits of the insect than others ; 

 but luckily it has been lately discovered, that any 

 alkaline substance incorporated with the soil defends 

 the plants growing on it from being chosen by the 

 parent fly. Soap boilers' waste is particularly effica- 

 cious for this purpose ; and no doubt all other sub- 

 stances, of similar quality, would be equally serviceable. 



The Weevil, ( Curculiogranarius^) is destructive to 

 wheat stored in granaries. It is said that if an 

 unwashed fleece of wool be laid near the corn-binn, 

 the weevil will prefer this to the wheat. Other Cur- 

 culioSy in their perfect form, feed on the young shoots 

 of apple trees ; one of the most destructive in 

 nurseries, is about two lines in length, lies hidden in 

 the ground by day at the roots of trees, after sunset 

 they crawl up the stems and eat out the buds, 



