222 Prof. Norton on the Analysis of the Oat. 
till near the middle of June. Within about a fortnight after their 
final transformation they begin to lay their eggs, and in the space 
of six weeks the whole generation becomes extinct. 
Fortunately these insects are appointed to return only at peri- 
ods so distant that vegetation often has time to recover from the 
injury they inflict; were they to appear at shorter intervals, our 
forest and fruit trees would soon be entirely destroyed by their 
ravages. They are moreover subject to many accidents, and 
have many enemies, which contribute to diminish their numbers. 
Their eggs are eaten by birds; the young, when they first issue 
from the shell, are preyed upon by ants, which mount the trees to 
feed upon them, or destroy them when they are about to enter the 
und. Blackbirds eat them when turned up by the plough in 
fields. Hogs are also excessively fond of them, and, when suffered 
to go at large in the woods, root them up, and devour immense 
numbers just before the arrival of the period of their final trans- 
formation, when they are lodged immediately under the surface 
of the soil. It is stated that many perish in the egg state, by the 
rapid growth of the bark and wood, which closes the perforations 
and buries the eggs before they have hatched; and many, with- 
out doubt, are killed by their perilous descent from the trees. 
Art. XXV.—On the Analysis of the Oat; by Prof. Joun 
I 
1TKIN Norton,* of Yale College. 
_ A cHemicaL inquiry into the nature of the oat would be of 
importance in almost any part of Europe, but it becomes a kind 
of national object in a country where, as in Scotland, oatmeal 
forms almost the sole food of a large portion of the population. 
But though Scotchmen have long fed and thriven upon it, a 
have carried their estimation of its virtues to every quarter of the 
globe where their adventurous footsteps have penetrated, the 
true properties of the oat, its chemical constituents, and the physi- 
ology of its growth, have been almost unnoticed. The few inves- 
tigations hitherto published have been of a partial character. 
Hermbstadt and Sprengel were among the first who made experi- 
ments on the subject at all worthy of confidence. More lately 
Boussingault has published a single analysis; but no researches 
of an extended nature have hitherto been published. 
To the Highland and Agricultural Society belongs the honor 
of first encouraging an extended inquiry for the purpose of in- 
creasing our knowledge as to the general value of the oat, as 
food for man and beast, and as to other points, physiological and 
_* This memoir, here reprinted, was presented by its author to the Highland 
Agricultural Society of Scotland, and received the premium of fifty sovereigns. 
5. 
he investigations were made in 
+ 
