28 
opterous, but not recognisable, while in other grains portions of 
exceedingly delicate pupa skins have occurred, in some cases 
doubtful, but in others showing unmistakeably the two anal points 
found only in some of the Diptera. 
The difficulty, therefore, becomes conijDlicated, since there are 
distinct indications of two different insects, belonging to different 
orders. That one assailant may be a small moth one can easily 
understand, but it is very difficult to comprehend how a Dipterous 
larva (footless) of the family Tipulidse, to which the pupa skins 
appear to belong, can manage to eat out the hard substance of a 
grain of barley, and the supposition that it might have been done 
while the grain is soft, is disposed of by the plump soundness of 
the grain and the condition of the remaining farinaceous substance. 
That the Dipterous insect can be a parasite on the larva of the 
Lepidopterous, is hardly possible, since such a habit does not seem 
to be known among the Tipulidse, and the really parasitic Diptera, 
such as Musca, form a perfectly amorphous pupa. All the 
Dipterous pests of grain yet known, as I am informed, such as the 
Hessian fly, attack the grain when in blossom, and destroy fructifi- 
cation by laying their eggs in the corolla of flower, or else by 
boring into the stem and causing it to wither. Specimens of the 
injured grains, which I have submitted to Mr. Eye, the well-known 
Coleopterist, have been carefully examined by him, and although 
he enumerates no less than eight species of beetles which feed on 
grain, he came to the conclusion, before the dead larva or pupa 
skins were discovered, that the offender was not Coleopterous. He 
moreover very kindly examined works on the subject by Kirby 
and Spence, Westwood, Kollar, and Hagen, and some of Curtis’s 
papers, but without obtaining any light upon this subject. If the 
grain had laid in the granary it would have been possible that the 
larva of Tinea granella, a small moth, had done the mischief ; 
but in this case there would almost certainly be gallei’ies of silk 
joining the grains together, and they would be gnawed indifferently 
from either end. Moreover, Tinea granella, as far as I am aware, 
seldom or never attacks grain in the field or the stack. 
GelcMa oerealclla, another minute motli, on the other liand, is, 
I believe, a field-feeder, and possibly may bo the culprit in this 
case, but I have been unable to ascertain exactly its mode of 
feeding. It is reported as a great pest on tbo continent, but is in 
