108 
Observations on the various Insects 
reader to identify these pests, and, by tracing their histories, ex- 
posed their vulnerable points, it is for those who have the oppor- 
tunity to follow up the inquiry, and to supply those deficiencies in 
the economy of the insects, which are wanting to complete the 
account of their metamorphoses ; and I recommend the parties 
interested in these investigations to practise those remedies best 
suited to each case, and, above all. to communicate the result to 
men of science as well as to the public. 
There are so many interests concerned in this portion of our 
subject, that no one could be indifferent to the transformations of 
these noxious insects, if it were not that an immense proportion of 
the public is ill informed, or totally ignorant of the silent but 
powerful operations of nature. There is still one important 
topic which I have not yet alluded to, but which is deserving of 
attention. In looking back to the variety of insects that feed 
upon the corn in granaries, and the multitudes that are often con- 
gregated in one heap, there can be no doubt that a very large 
portion of them must be occasionally ground up with the corn 
and consumed by the public ; this is not only a disagreeable fact, 
but it may be the source of very serious consequences, for I 
think it not improbable that diseases might be traced to the in- 
sects, which are converted with the infested flour into bread, 
amounting to such a large per centage, that if they have the 
slightest medicinal or deleterious qualities, it is impossible to 
deny the influence they must e.\ercise upon the human system.* 
I have known bushels of cocoa-nuts, which were every one worm- 
eaten and full of maggots, with their webs, excrement, cast off 
skins, pupae and cocoons, all ground down to make chocolate, 
flavoured, I suppose, with vanilla ! 
Summary of the foregoing Report. 
Scopula frumentalis inhabits wheat-fields in June ; the cater- 
pillar is injurious to the crop. 
Pyralis Secalis. The caterpillar lives in stems of rye, render- 
ing the ears white and empty. 
Similar caterpillars in wheat-planis in March. 
A hymenopterous parasitic fly infests these larvae. 
The caterpillar of a moth, Leucania ohsoleta, will eat the leaves 
of the oats. 
They only come out at night to feed. 
The slug-like larvoe of a beetle, Crioceris melanopa, feed upon 
the oat-leaves in June. 
♦ A medical man in Madeira assured Mr. Mills" that he considered the 
winjrs and the crustaceous parts ol' the weevil so heating to the system as to 
be almost as injurious as CaiUhurides, taken internally, on a slow scale." — 
Trans. Ent. Soc, vol. i. p. 242. 
