v^-Uc-^M--^ - 



i,_ _^' i- 



—rr X 



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THE FLY-WEEVIL. 



278 



In other inflances, that her tciidernefs to flies, which pro- 

 pagate hy eggs, clireds them to clepofit then- eggs on the 

 under fide of leaves, that are a good fecurity againft the 

 force of fun beams and weather ; and as foon as they hatch, 

 thofe leaves become the immediate food for thofe maggots, 

 worms or catterpillars. 



The fame arguments mufl hold good againft the eggs 

 being laid on the end of the grain; and it is no new thing 

 t-o advance that hundreds of bufliels have been carried very 

 fair to every eye, from the barn or treading floor, into the 

 granary; where, if thrown into a heap, tlie coUeded 

 warmth vivifies the egg, and, in proportion to the growth 

 of the maggot within the grain, the warmth is increafed; 

 and even whilft the middle or lower parts of the heap fliall 

 be alive, and ready to fly away, the upper parts fliall be 

 quite fair, and yet neverthelefs hatch even at fome diflant 

 day, with a proper warmth, if not perifl"ied by anycold- 

 nefs or other excefs in weather, or by art: I fay then, in 

 fuch a length of time before hatching, the odds are greatly 

 againft the egg or worm's flicking to the grain till it 

 hatches or eats i 



Thefe things being confidered, I thought that I had ad- 

 vanced far enough in luveftigating this point, to be con- 

 inced the evil was efi^eded by laying the egg in the grain, 

 and in the foft ftate of it; and that thofe obfervations, faid 

 to be made of the egg being laid on the huflc, or on the 



outfide of the grain, were inaccurate, and cfpoufcd with- 

 out a due confideration. But, in order to make it as clear 

 to others as myfelf, I muft here beg leave to affert, that I 

 have diftindly feen with my glaflTes the egg in the grain 

 of wheat, at the upper end of it, beneath the flcin, and 

 round it a finall yellow ftain, as if the milky fiibflance had 

 received a tindure from the egg] and as a further con- 

 firming circumftance that thefe eggs are laid in the foft ftate 

 of the grain, I find in my diary, that many years ago I 

 vifited a field of one of my neighbours, who having been 

 extremely late in his harveft, in very warm and temperate 



1^1 



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J. 



Vol. I 



N n 



weather, 



