92 



Observations on the various Insects 



Their numbers depend very much upon the seasons, and for 

 this reason sometimes these troublesome larvae are not seen. 1 

 believe they abounded in 1816, 17, and 18, and then were 

 lost sight of till 1829 and the two following years, In June, 

 1845, they committed great havoc amongst some Swedish turnips 

 in the Isle of Anglesea, upon an estate of A. Elliot Fuller, Esq. 

 Wheat and oats are also laid under contribution by them. In a 

 recent number of the Gardeners' Chronicle,* there are some 

 pertinent remarks by Mr. B. Maund, regarding the not growing 

 of wheat after clover-lea, owing to the fly. He says : — 



" My attention was called by an agricultural friend to an instance 

 of this last spring, where it was discovered that the plant of spring-sown 

 wheat was dying away, from its being eaten through just beneath the 

 surface of the earth, and that the enemy was the larva or grub of a 

 species of Tipula, or Daddy-long-legs. In some parts of the field 

 these were so numerous just beneath the surface, that half a dozen or 

 more could be collected within the space of a square foot ; and such 

 devastation had they made, that for half an acre together, in some 

 parts of the field, very few plants of wheat were to be found. The 

 field was rolled three times over in different directions, in April, with 

 Crosskill's clod-crusher, and in a fortnight afterwards, the weather 

 being dry, the land was almost as compact as a macadamised road." 



This operation killed many, and saved the crop. Mr. Maund 

 adds : — 



"It is not unknown to farmers in the midland counties, that a crop of 

 potatoes cannot be grown on some farms after clover, on account of the 

 existence of this grub ; and the only remedy adopted — a most efficient 

 one — is breast- ploughing the turf and burning it." 



From the immense swarms of a smaller species of Tipula on 

 lighter arable lands, I am inclined to believe that the corn-crops 

 suffer more from these than from the T. Oleracea on sandy and 

 similar soils, and as I may not have a better opportunity of making 

 this known to agriculturists, I shall not scruple to introduce 

 the species here, especially as it attacks the potato likewise. The 

 pretty gnat alluded to has been named by HofTmansegg 



23. T. maculosa. The male is not ^ an inch long; the female 

 is more, and the wings expand about 1 inch. They are of a 

 bright yellow colour, spotted with black : the male has a pair of 

 slender blackish horns longer than the thorax ; the forehead 

 projects like a cone, on each side is a black dot, and on the crown 

 is a black spot pointed over the forehead : the mouth is at the 

 extremity of a cylindrical beak, the feelers blackish; the eyes 

 are black, as well as 3 long patches on the back of the thorax, 

 and various spots on the sides and beneath : the scutel has a 

 conical mark on the back, with a black hinder margin : the 



* Vol. viii. p. 707. 



