17S INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



years ago to a poor farmer near Norwich, that the court 

 of that city, out of compassion, allowed him 251., and the 

 man and his servant declared that he had gathered eighty 

 bushels of the beetle 3 . In the year 1785 many provinces 

 of France were so ravaged by them, that a premium was 

 offered by the government for the best mode of destroying 

 them. They do not confine themselves to grass, but eat 

 also the roots of corn; and it is to feast upon this grub 

 more particularly that the rooks follow the plough. 



The larva also of another species of this genus (Melo- 

 lontha pulvemlenta, F.) is extremely destructive in moist 

 meadows, rooting under the herbage, so that, the soil be- 

 coming loose, the grass soon withers and dies. Swine are 

 very fond of these grubs, and will devour vast numbers 

 of them, and the rooks lend their assistance. 



Amongst the Lepidoptera, the greatest enemy of our 

 pastures is the Bmnhyx Grami?iis, F., which, however, is 

 said not to touch the foxtail grass. In the ye||es 174-0, 

 1741, 1742, 1748, 1749, they multiplied so prodigiously 

 and committed such ravages in many provinces of Sweden, 

 that the meadows became quite white and dry as if a fire 

 had passed over them b . This destructive insect, though 

 found in this country, is luckily scarce amongst us; but 

 our northern neighbours appear occasionally to have suf- 

 fered greatly from it. In 1759, and again in 1802, the 

 high sheep farms in Tweedale were dreadfully infested 

 by a caterpillar, which was probably the larva of this moth; 

 spots of a mile square were totally covered by them, and 

 the grass devoured to the root c . 



Most of the insects I have hitherto mentioned attack 



a Philos. Trans. 1741. 581. b De Geer, ii. 341. 4 main, Acad. iii. 355. 

 '-' Farmer'' s Mac iii. 487- 



