DinECT INJURIES FROM MOTHS. 51 



negroes set to dig up the earth in every direction, to 

 try if this would extirpate them ; but vain was all 

 earthly means. The great sum of <£20,000 was of- 

 fered as a reward to any person who should discover 

 a mode of destroying them ; hut no plan could be 

 devised, till, in the year 1780, the wise Disposer of 

 all things, by sending a most awful hurricane, ac- 

 companied by mighty torrents of rain, ridded Gra- 

 nada of this scourge, and at the same time proved 

 most fatal and destructive to many of the other 

 West India islands. 



In a tour through the West Indies by M'Kinnen,* 

 he states, that, in the years 1788 and 1794'j two- 

 thirds of the cotton crop were destroyed by a cater- 

 pillar called the Chenille, which is supposed to be 

 the larva of a moth. 



Let us turn to our gardens, and see what ravages 

 are often committed by the larvie of these beautiful 

 animals. The bowers of Pomona are frequently laid 

 waste by them. The Currant Moth {Phalo'tia gros- 

 sulariata) frequently destroys whole gardens of this 

 fruit. Lettuces are subject to the attacks of various 

 species of moths, such as the beautiful one called the 

 Tiger, {Bomhi/x cajas of Fabricius,) and the cater- 

 pillar of an anonymous one, which is described by 

 Reaumur as commencing at the root, eats itself a 

 domicile in the stem, and their lodges ; which so 



• Page 171. 



