202 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



promise an abundant crop, that the fruit falls before k 

 comes to maturity, scarcely any remaining upon the trees. 

 The caterpillar of a moth which eats into its interior is 

 the cause of this disappointment a . — Of fruits the date 

 has the hardest nucleus ; yet an insect of the same tribe 

 with the above, that feeds upon its kernel, is armed with 

 jaws sufficiently strong to perforate it, that it may make 

 its escape when the time of its change is arrived, and as- 

 sume the pupa between the stone and the flesh. The 

 date is eaten also by a beetle which Hasselquist calls a 

 Dermestes h . 



One of the most delicious, and at the same time most 

 useful, of all our fruits is the grape : to this, as you know, 

 we are indebted for our raisins, for our currants, for our 

 wine, and for our brandy ; you cannot therefore but feel 

 interested in its history, and desire to be informed, whe- 

 ther, like those before enumerated, this choice gift of 

 heaven, whose produce " cheereth God and man c ," 

 must also be the prey of insects. There is a singular 

 beetle, common in Hungary, [Lethrus cephalotes, F.) 

 which gnaws off the young shoots of the vine, and drags 

 them backward into its burrow, where it feeds upon 

 them : on this account the country people wage conti- 

 nual war with it, destroying vast numbers' 3 . — Three 

 other beetles also attack this noble plant : two of them, 

 mentioned by French authors, (Rynchites Bacchus and 

 Eumolpus Vitis,) devour the young shoots, the folia o-e 

 and the footstalks of the fruit, so that the latter is pre- 



a Rcaum. ii. 505. 



h Ibid. ii. 507. and Hasselquist's Travels in the Levant, 428. 



c That is "High and Low," Judges ix. 13. 



d Sturm Dcutschlands Fauna, l. 5. 



