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It is here represented in its natural size, and magnified; also in its state of chrysalis, in which it is dormant. It is shown nestling in the wheat stubble, near the roots, where it looks something like flaxseed. The chrysalis is also taken from the stalk of the wheat, and represented of its natural size. The egg and larva are omitted in the plate, as the one is a small white nit, and the other a small white maggot, not easily delineated,

All insects undergo certain changes and transformations, winch embarrass ordinary observers; and the creatures seen in different states are taken for different insects. But these changes are positive and uniform, and must be known to understand the subject and come at the truth. They are four. 1. the ovum, or egg; 2. the larva, or caterpillar; 3. the chrysalis pupa, or dormant state, and 4. the imago, or perfect insect.

Omne animal ex ovo, (every animal is produced from an egg,) is a favourite dogma with some. It is true with respect to almost all insects. From the egg issues, in due time, called into existence by the warmth of a congenial sun, the larva or caterpillar. In this state it partakes of its favourite food, adapted to its nature, and provided by the hand of the Omnipotent. It feeds till having obtained its growth, and performed all its functions, it is prepared to sleep away a portion of its existence previous to its revival in its ultimate state. It is in the caterpillar state that most insects injure vegetation; and herein they perform no other functions than eating and digestion, by which they acquire their growth. This being accomplished, they become torpid and enter into the chrysalis or dormant state, in which they continue a longer or shorter interval, according to the season. In high latitudes most of them hybernate and resuscitate on the approach of summer, not again into a caterpillar, but into the imago or perfect insect. From this form of its existence it must be characterized and described as the parent animal. The others are subordinate states of being, preparatory to its perfect and most complete developement. In this it performs the functions necessary for a continuation and propagation of its species. The wheat tipula, like the silk worm, lays its eggs and dies, and a new generation succeeds.

The egg of the insect is generally deposited "between the lowest part of the leaf of the wheat and the part which forms the main stalk or straw, to the latter of which it closely adheres, and is generally within VOL. 1. NO. IV.

the outside leaf, so as to lie as near to the
root as possible, (as represented in the
cut.) It resembles, at first, a very small
white nit, and as it grows larger becomes
a sluggish and almost inanimate maggot
of a white colour. In this state, the pro-
per and most natural food of the insect is
the sap or juice of that kind of green
wheat which has the most delicate
straw."* The change from the egg to the
larva, or maggot, is so difficultly discern-
ible, in so small an object, that Judge Ha-
vens, whose observations are just quoted,
has mistaken the fact, and concluded that
the insect is viviparous. But although
some insects do not undergo the changes
that have been stated, yet none of them
that are viviparous produce a larva as the
first state of existence. Spiders lay eggs
which produce spiders, and these crea-
tures, by late naturalists, have been re-
moved from the class of insects and
placed by themselves on that account. The
aphides, or little green insects that infest
cabbages and other plants, and called cab-
bage-lice, deviate from the ordinary course
of other insects, and are viviparous. The
wheat tipula, however, progresses through
the four ordinary changes common to most
insects. The chrysalis is brownish or
black, and might be mistaken for the egg
of some other insect.

The tipula vaginalis, looks something like a moscheto, but smaller, and is without the feathery palpi, or feelers, of that troublesome insect. The tipula plumosa, resembles our moscheto very much. The American wheat tipula is said to have been imported, during the American revolution, by the German troops employed by England to repress the spirit of freedom in her colonies, and hence this little creature has been called the Hessian Fly. Judge Havens, in his observations on this subject, does not decide the question, but leaves it probable that it might have been so, because the chrysalis of the insect is sometimes deposited in the upper part of the stalk of grain, and hence could have been imported with straw from Europe. But no such insect is known to infest grain in Great Britain, and one only on the continent of Europe, which feeds upon wheat in the ear. If these facts are wrong, the

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figure in the plate, which has never before been given to the public, will serve to correct the errors by comparison with the description of figures of other tipulæ published in books of entomology.

ral years, and the insect disappeared. Some sowed the bearded wheat, which the tipula did not injure, but this kind of grain does not wholly escape, unless it is sown late in the autumn, so that the tipula has not the green plant upon which to lay its eggs. The crops of wheat sown early in the fall receive the most damage by it.

German troops were quartered in several places on Long-Island, during the American revolution, and a year or two after peace, when agriculture commenced its In this part of the country, the tipula operations uninterrupted by war, the passes through two generations in a season, wheat tipula first excited notice in that and consequently annoys the young grain part of our state, by the injury done to the both in the spring and autumn. After wheat. It was easy to attribute this plague hybernation, or lying in a state of chrysalis to our enemies, and accordingly it was all winter, in the culm, or stalk of the saddled upon the poor Hessians, who are grain sown in the autumn, it resuscitates innocent of the charge, and hence it is im- between the middle of April and first of proper to call the wheat insect, the Hes- May. The imago, or perfect insect, has sian Fly. It is besides quite different from no other duty to perform than to deposit a fly, whose figure and habits are very its eggs in a situation where sufficient food unlike those of a tipula, and the former will be found to nourish its young. Ac belongs to a genus of insects called musca, cordingly, the place selected is between which most generally feed upon animal the first leaf and the stalk near the root. substances. The season, if warm, soon hatches the eggs The tipula vaginalis tritici of America, into small white maggots, which feed upon most generally delights to feed upon the the sap and tender fibres of the plant, by tender plants of green wheat, but it has which it is deprived of its circulating been known to attack rye, and even barley, juices, withers and dies; or if not, it is (Havens. Agricult. Trans. vol. i. p. 91.) stunted in its growth, appears sickly, and though the two latter rarely and without does not bring its seed to perfection. Du injury, except that in one case on Long- ring the months of May and June it exists Island, in 1788, a field of summer barley in the egg and larva, or maggot state, in was entirely destroyed, as was supposed, by which latter the damage is effected. It this insect. It first appeared to attract becomes torpid, or is converted into the notice by its ravages on the east end of chrysalis before harvest, and is found in Long-Island, about thirty-one years ago, that state in the stubble after harvest, and (viz.) in 1786. The crops of wheat were during the months of July and August, and almost entirely cut off in that part of the sometimes longer, and may be found as country in 1787 and 1788. The inhabitants, discouraged by such destruction, cultivated rye almost exclusively for seve

long as the stubble is suffered to stand, till in September, when it again issues into its perfect state of existence, and the same progress is repeated, though the period of so different a creature, that it could not be mista- its several changes differs; the dormant ken for the American wheat tipula, as the one in state particularly, which, in summer, Europe feeds upon wheat in the car, and ours only about two months, but in the winter upon the juices of the young plant, and deposits five or six. Thus two generations sucits eggs and chrysalis on the stalk, where it is ceed each other in a year. The one comcovered like a sheath by the first or outer leaf. mences in April and terminates its exist Hence, not to confound the two insects together, ence in August: The other springs into he has called the American wheat tipula, the life in September and October, and finishes tipula vaginalis tritici. That they are not the

same, will be easily seen by comparing the de- its period by the ensuing spring. Thus scription and figure of the American tipula, with nature seems to have adapted its coming the tipula tritici of Europe, which is as follows: to the spring and autumn, when the tender Dull rufous: wings hyaline with a fringed sprouting grain affords the best nourishmargin: eyes black. Inhabits Europe; very ment minute, (Lin. Trans. vol. iv. p. 230.) Antennæ

moniliform, longer than the thorax: legs very done to grain was effected by the chrysalis It has been supposed that the damage long. Larva citron with foliated papille at the of the tipula, by its mechanical effect of margin, a sharp head and truncate tail; skips,

and is found in great numbers in the ears of pressure, as from one to six have been wheat, to which it is very injurious; is destroyed found on one plant: but this cannot be the by the ichneumon tipula: prva narrow, reddish case, since we have shown that the insect and pointed at each end." Zurton's Linnæus. is not converted into a chrysalis till near the

ripening of the grain, and the injury is manifested while the wheat is young and before it begins to head. It can only be a number of the larvæ or young maggots sucking the juices of the plant, which prevents its increase and vigour.

It is a mistake that the wheat tipula is to be found on salad. The insect is too small to be positively distinguished by the naked eye; though another specics may infest salad, it is certainly not this insect, for although it sometimes leaves its favourite food, this happens but rarely, and then it attacks its congeners, and does not shift to the salad.

This insect travels about thirty miles in a season, going apparently in swarms, and alighting in a body upon a piece of grain, which will most frequently be injured in patches, as if attacked by different swarms. The periods of its existence in the different states of maggot, chrysalis, &c. must vary according to circumstances in different parts of the country, therefore the months in which the changes take place in the southern parts of New-York, will not be the same as where the seed time and harvest are different. The insect will be found, however, in the egg and maggot, on the young grain in the spring and autumn, and in the state of chrysalis just before harvest, and on the stubble.

Several remedies may be proposed for the destruction of these insects. Very hot weather, attended by a dry state of the atmosphere, will either bring forward the insect prematurely from its chrysaline state, or dry up the moisture, by which it is destroyed. This has been observed with some of them, kept in a dry vessel in June. Some came out feeble and others withered. A cold season, with much moisture, will also destroy them, though these remedies are not at our will and dis

so easily injured as some other varieties of wheat, and this arises from the strength of its stalk and abundance of juices, which are not as delicate as some other kinds, and hence these small creatures cannot devour sufficient of its substance before it begins to harden into straw. This and any other variety of wheat, whose stalk is stout and has a stiff straw, will answer the same purpose. But if from any cause the insect has become very numerous, the same precautions of late sowing in the fall must be resorted to..

3. Manuring high. In so doing the farmer produces a strong and rapid growth, which progresses faster than the maggot of the insect can devour, and as the stalk grows hard the feeding of the larva ceases to have effect.

4. Making use of a roller. By using a heavy wooden or stone roller on the young grain, in the autumn, after the chrysalis is formed, or in the spring before it is hatched, or on the stubble after harvest, the chrysalis will be crushed, and future pro geny destroyed In this state it is very tender and delicate, and the smallest pressure will burst it and the insect must die.

5. Ploughing up the stubble. If this is done immediately after harvest, the chrysalis will be buried in the earth, and not being in a place congenial to its nature, it will die.

Unless the stubble is completely buried, the experiment will not succeed, the deeper the ploughing the better.

6. Burning the stubble. If the stubble is entirely burnt the chrysalis must be destroyed, but as it lays near the root, the fire must be well applied, or the insect escapes.

I am, &c.

posal; but some one of the following may MESSRS. EDITORS, be practicable in any part of the country.

1. Sowing late. If the grain is scattered early in autumn, the insect has full time and opportunity to deposit its eggs on the tender plant, and have them undergo the changes into maggot and chrysalis before winter; but by delaying, as long as the season for sowing winter grain will admit, the time for these changes is shortened, and the eggs or maggots are destroyed by

the frost.

2. Cultivating the bearded wheat. This has been considered as proof against the attack of the insect, but reliance on it alone has been found fallacious, It does not escape with impunity, though it is not

SAMUEL AKERLY.

There was nothing more extraordinary in the eccentric life of Thomas, Lord Lyttleton, or as he is commonly called, Lord Lyttleton the younger, than the mysterious manner of his death. The event made a great noise, and excited much speculation at the time. Indeed the bruit has hardly subsided, and inquiry is scarcely at rest. If you think there are any of your readers who are not familiar with the facts, you will perhaps feel willing to admit a succinct account of his Lordship's character, and of the singular concomitants of his decease, into your useful Miscellany.

This licentious nobleman was the son of the celebrated George, Lord Lyttleton, whe

was equally celebrated as a scholar and a Christian. He was the heir of his father's talents, but not of his virtues. He succeeded to the title and estates in 1773. The circumstances of his death, which occurred in 1779, were certainly very extraordinary, and excited the more attention on account of his Lordship's known profligacy and scepticism. In the Gentleman's Magazine, for Nov last, I met with the following article in relation to this event.

'MR. URBAN,

'Pit-place, Epsom, Jan. 6.

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In the same Miscellany, for Dec. 1799, a very interesting and candid account is given of this strange occurence, from which I make the following extract.

On Thursday morning, the 25th of Nov. last, his lordship mentioned at breakfast, to Mrs. Flood (a widow lady who lived with him as companion to the Miss Amphletts. his nieces,) that he had passed a very restless night; that he thought he heard a fluttering noise in the room; and that immediately after he fancied he saw a beautiful lady, dressed in white, with a bird on her hand, 'Your correspondent, T. S. mentions who desired he would settle his affairs, for "the marvellous account of Lord Lyttleton's that he had but a short time to live. On his death," and wishes to see it "authenticated. inquiring how long, the vision answered, Having bought Pit-place, where he died, I "Not three days." His lordship mentioned can give the following copy of a document this dream frequently, but with an affected in writing, left in the house as a heir-loom, air of careless indifference, which only showwhich may be depended on. Having re- ed that it had made a stronger impression ceived much pleasure and instruction from on his mind, than he chose to acknowledge. your work for near forty years, I deem it my On Saturday evening he pulled out his watch, duty to assist, in however trifling a degree.' observed that it was half past ten, and that he "Lord Lyttleton's dream and death" (see had still an hour and an half longer to live, Admiral Wolseley's account.)-"I was at and jocosely chacking under the chin one of Pit-place, Epsom, when Lord Lyttleton died: the young ladies (his nieces) danced about Lord Fortescue, Lady Flood, and the two the room, and asked her if she did not think Miss Amphletts, were also present. Lord he would get over it, and live beyond the Lyttleton had not been long returned from time predicted for his death. Soon afterIreland, and frequently had been seized with suffocating fits. He was attacked several times by them in the course of the preceding month. While in his house in Hill-street, Berkley-square, he dreamt, three days before his death," he saw a bird fluttering, and afterwards a woman appeared in white apparel, and said, Prepare to die, you will not exist three days.' He was alarmed, and called his servant, who found him much agitated and in a profuse perspiration. This had a visible effect the next day on his spirits. On the third day, while at breakfast with the above-mentioned persons, he said, 'I have jockied the ghost, as this is the third day. The whole party set off to Pit place. They had not long arrived when he was seized with a usual fit. Soon recovered. Dined at five. To bed at eleven. His servant, about to give him rhubarb and mint water, stirred it with a tooth-pick; which Lord Lyttleton perceiving, called him a 'slovenly dog,' and bid him bring a spoon. On the servant's return, he was in a fit. The pillow being high, his chin bore hard on his neck. Instead of relieving him, he ran for help; and on his return found him dead."

"In Boswell's "Life of Dr. Johnson," (vol. iv. p. 313,) he said, "It is the most extraordinary occurrence in my days. I heard it from Lord Westcote, his uncle-I am so glad to have evidence of the spiritual world, that I am willing to believe it." Dr. Adams replied, "You have evidence enough; good ovidence, which needs no support."

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wards, however, he went to bed, complained of an uneasiness in his stomach, and while his servant was mixing a cup of rhubarb and pepper-mint-water, a medicine which he fre quently took, expired. It was remarkable, likewise, that his lordship endeavoured to ac count for his having dreamed of the bird, by saying that a few days before, being in his green-house, at Pit-place, with Mrs. D, he had taken some pains to catch a robin, which had been shut up in it, and which be had set at liberty.

His general complaint was a pain in his stomach, and his usual medicine, a dose of rhubarb in mint water. His real disorder was a polypus on the heart, described to be a quantity of coagulated blood, contained in a cyst or bag, on the bursting of which, imme diate death, the uatural consequence, ensued.'

His Lordship died at the age of thirty-five.

striking coincidence of the event with the There was certainly in the above case a prediction. But that such presentiments are not infallible I imagine many of your rea ders can attest. An anecdote I lately met late John Courtenay, Esq., of the princiwith in some biographical sketches, by the pal men of his day, will go to show this. Mr: Courtenay thus relates it:

Dalrymple, uncle to the present Earl of 'My acquaintance with the late General Stair, commenced about the year 1763. His manner and address were pompous, and he did not express himself with facility and con

ciseness, which induced many to depreciate As our correspondent seems to have taken his parts. His understanding was excellent, a fair view of the subject, we will only add clear and comprehensive, wholly employed that some similar cases, with judicious reon military subjects; his judgment and pre- marks on the operation of such sinister anticicision on every point of his profession were pations, may be found in Reid's Essays' unquestionable. which are noticed in our review of that vainable publication, in this number of our Miscellany. E.

'I lived in great intimacy with General Dalrymple above forty years, and always found him a generous and attached friend. His table was elegant, and his great delight was to entertain a convivial select party; for he hated to have a crowded dinner, which obliges the company to split into sets, and substitutes a confused noise instead of general agreeable conversation.

MESSRS. EDITORS,

If the following anecdote of the power of strike you as forcibly as it did me, I am painting, in deceiving canine sagacity, confident you will give it a place in your Miscellany. I confess I do not recollect to have heard of an analogous case.

In the year 1815, Doctor Buchanan, of the United States' Navy, stationed at Sackett's Harbour, having sent his son to New-York, for the purpose of taking passage for Europe, wrote to a friend in this city to select a portrait painter, and have the boy's likeness portrayed and sent to him. This was done, and some time after the friend received a letter expressing the father's approbation of the portrait, and relating a singular occurrence evincing the truth of the resemblance.

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The last time he sailed to America, he earnestly pressed me to go and dine with him at Hounslow on his way to Porstmonth. I observed that he was unusually grave and dispirited; after a cheerful bottle he began to talk of presentiments, and at last owned that he had conceived an idea that he should die in America, and never see England again. I was surprised at this, as he was of a firm, high, cheerful temper, and as little tinctured by superstition as any man I ever knew. To dissipate this mental gloom, I related an anecdote which happened to myself not many months before. I'dreamed that Moses had appeared and acquainted me that on such a day of the month and day of the week I should surely die. I told this dream the next pointer dog, named Pero. My dear James My friend, Captain Heilman, has a fine day at dinner at Mr Blair's in Portland place; being an excellent shot, and fond of sportbut it made so little impression on me that I had forgotten both the dream and the Mo-ing, an intimacy was consequently formed saic dates. Mrs. Sharp, a Scotch lady, who between him and Mr. Peto-who would was present, privately made a memorandum of the fact; and as I accidentally called on her at her mother's, Lady Sharp, in Tichfield street; she reminded me that the fatal day was come to verify Moses's denunciation. The surprise and suddenness of recalling this singular dream to my recollection, in deflance of all my efforts, depressed my spirits so much, that I was obliged to step into Devaynes's shop, in Spring Gardens, in my way to the Ordnance Office, and take forty or fifty drops of Lavender Drops to revive me; nor did I recover from the gloomy impression till the day was past. I assured the ge: neral on my honour that I had not invented the anecdote for the occasion. I appealed to Mr. and Mrs Blair and Mrs. Sharp for the truth and accuracy of my relation. The sin gularity of this dream, its accidental impression upon me, with the enlivening aid of another bottle, had a most propitious influence on the general. He pursued his journey to Portsmouth in the evening, and was no longer disturbed by his presentiment. I have often reflected since, that if my dream had been accidentally verified, it would have had more effect to prove the divine legislation of Moses, than Warburton's Treatise." Yours, &c. J. S.

frequently call (as it were) for James to go a hunting. After James's absence he repeated his visit about once a week, as if seeking his former friend. The first visit he paid after the arrival of Dunlap's semblance of his sporting companion was truly affecting. The moment he came into the door the picture struck his eye, he stood motionless, one leg raised and his tail wagging for a few moments,-he then seemed to have identified the truth of his own sight; he rapidly approached it, whining and wagging his tail,-jumped upon the chair over which it stood, and placing his fore-paws on the frame, licked the hands of his quondam young friend: and this visit he repeats frequently, standing, ere his departure, with his eyes fixed on the picture and his tail wagging adieu. I presume this fact has taken place a dozen times, and in the presence of a dozen people."

Yours, &c.

R. T.

We certainly do consider the circumstances narrated by our correspondent

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