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[ 274 ] 



NS' concerning the FLY-WEEVIL 



y 



ejlroys the %vheatt ivith fomc tifefid di/coveries 

 ifions, concerning the propagation and prog-rej. 



'/ that pernicious inji 



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of 



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, (^/'Sabine-Hall, Virginia; 

 Ready and ordered to be 



tranfmitted by Colonel LEE. 

 tubUJIoed^ November i^thj 1768. 



T IS not In my power to oblige you with the paper that 

 I ibn:ic years ago publiflied in our gazettes, upon this 

 little deftrudive infea, called the moth or fly-weevil. 

 However, as you are very earnefl in your enquiries as to 

 its particular nature, in order, if poffible, to fave fo bene- 

 ficial a commodity as wheat to America, which perhaps 

 in a few years (unlefs fuch dcflrudivc infeds do infeft itj 

 might become a kind of granary to moft parts of Europe ; 

 I will from my diaries, put together thofe discoveries that 

 led me to write that paper; and alfo wdiat has fince occur- 

 red to me in the attacks that our country has lately met 

 with from thofe infeds; for it is a certainty they continue 

 atnongfl us, juft as the feafon favours or not their propa- 

 gation; although fomc will fancy they have their periods 

 for coming and going away. 



It is but fomething more than twenty-five years ago, 



that I heard any thing of fuch an infect that injured our 

 wheat; but fince then I have had frequent occafions to take 

 great notice of it; and fiave had great reafon to be very 

 anxious to examine into the nature of that fly. It is with 

 much propriety called a weevil, as it dcftroys the wheat 

 even in our eranaries, though it is not of the kind termed 



by naturalifts the curculio, of wdiich they have given a 

 very long lift; for it is not like a bug, it carries no caies 

 for its wings; neither has it any feelers, with which the 

 curculio is aKvays diftinguiflied; and perhaps (as I fancy it 

 will turn out in the courfe of this letter that they never at- 

 tack grain when hard) they really have no occafion for 



fuch 



