172 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



small beetle, Lyctus dentatus, F. ; and an Indian grain, 

 called in die country Joharre, which appears to be a species 

 of Holcus or Milium, is the appropriate food of another 

 species of Calandra a , which I found abundant in it. 



Rye, in this island, is an article of less importance than 

 wheat; but in some parts of the continent it forms a prin- 

 cipal portion of the bread-corn. Providence has also ap- 

 pointed the insect means of causing a scarcity of this spe- 

 cies of food. The fly before noticed (Musca Pumilionis) 

 introduces its eggs into the heart of the shoots of rye, and 

 occasions so many to perish, that from eight to fourteen 

 are lost in a square of two feet. — A small moth also {Pyralis 

 Secalis, F.) which eats the culm of this plant within the 

 vagina, thus destroys many ears b . In common with wheat 

 and barley it also suffers from Leeuwenhoek's wolf and 

 the Aveevil. 



Barley likewise, another of our most valuable grains, 

 has several insect foes. The gelatinous larva of a saw-fly 

 ( Teniliredo, L.) preys upon the upper surface of the leaves, 

 and so occasions them to wither. Musca Hordei of Bier- 

 kander also assails the plant. A tenth part of the produce 

 of this grain, Linne affirms, is annually destroyed in Swe- 

 den by another fly, not yet discovered in Britain, {Musca 

 Frit, L.,) which does the mischief by getting into the ear. 

 — -A small species of moth described by Reaumur, though 

 not named by Linne, which maybe called Tinea Hordei, 

 devours the grain when laid up in the granar}-. This fly 

 deposits several eggs, perhaps twenty or thirty, on a sin-* 



d Curculio testaceus, Ent, Brit. 



h Marsham in Linn. Trans. ii. 80. De Geer notices the injury done 

 by this fly to rye, and observes that before it had been attributed to 

 frost, ii. 68. 



