482 
Observations on the various Insects 
met with any similar occurrence, the record of the fact may pos- 
sibly lead to a more correct knowledge of the economy of the ani- 
mal. It is of the Order Hymenoptera, of the same Family 
Tenthredinid^e as "the Turnip Saw-fly ;"* and from its figure 
and the number of legs, it appears to associate with the Genus 
Tenthredo ; but without the fly which it would change to, it is 
impossible to speak with any certainty. 
7. Tenthredo ? On the 3rd of August, 1842,1 received more than 
50 specimens of these caterpillars ; they were about three-quarters 
of an inch long, rough, and of an orange-brown cast, with a paler 
line down the back; they had 6 horny pectoral, 14 abdominal, 
and 2 anal membranous feet ; the head was large, horny, hemi- 
spherical, and ochreous, with a minute prominent eye on each sidj 
surrounded by a small black ring, and a minute horn before each 
(fig. 19). The jaws were strong and horny, meeting in front, 
subquadrate, pitch-colour at the apex, one with strong irregular 
teeth (fig. i), the other more crenated (fig.j); the maxillae were 
small, and furnished with a short, tapering, triarticulate palpus 
I will now transcribe my correspondent s account of them : he 
says, " I find from my friend, that on walking through a field of 
wheat, at noon on Monday, he saw one of these caterpillars on the 
top of almost every ear of corn, perfectly inactive, and the corn 
not injured in any way. Great niimbers still remain on the ears, 
almost all are quite at the top, some apparently impaled upon 
the sharp points of the husks of the uppermost grains, and only 
one on each ear. A large wood adjoins the field, and I should 
observe that almost all the caterpillars appear dead and dried up 
on the ears; and it was with difficulty 1 could find any at all 
showing signs of life." It was certainly a strange phenomenon, 
which came so suddenly, and appeared so unaccountable, that 
the bailiff declared "they fell in a shower during the night." 
We have now arrived at the history of a genus of small flies 
which is highly interesting ; and although their depredations are 
well known, the habits of the various species had not been com- 
pletely investigated mitil recently. Opportunities of studying their 
economy having been offered, I commenced my observations some 
years since, but did not complete them until the present year, 
and I now find that Dr. llerpin had been engaged upon the same 
subject, by a pamphlet upon Chlorops, Sec, which has lately 
appeared, with plates and additional observations, by M. Guerin- 
Meneville. My investigations, therefore, have no longer the 
charm of novelty, but they may yet strengthen the observations 
already promulgated, and will not prove uninteresting to the agri- 
* Ro^ al A^ric. Soc. Journ., vol, ii. pi. B, f. G and 7. 
