96 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



grain sown as sheep-feed. This reduces to narrow Hmits the Hnes in 

 which experiments may be successfully tried to prevent this enemy to 

 England's staple crop from establishing itself and getting beyond the con- 

 trol of the farmers. 



Perhaps the most satisfactory feature about this outbreak of the Hes- 

 sian Fly in England is the fact that it has appeared in so many places, and 

 has thus been brought forcibly before tlie attention of farmers ui all parts 

 of the kingdom, and they, being aroused, will lunv see the necessity of 

 promptly carrying out the instructions necessary for its extermination. 



The Royal Agricultural Society through Miss Ormerod, and the Gov- 

 ernment through Mr. Whitehead, have done everything in their power to 

 apprise the farmers of their danger, and have put in their hands as wea- 

 pons with which they may confidently hope to cope successfully with their 

 new enemy, concise information as to its life-history and habits which will 

 enable them to recognise it at once, and apply without delay the proper 

 treatment. Briefly, this consists of (a) late sowing of the main crop, so 

 that there is no accommodation ready for the autumn brood, by which a 

 large proportion will necessarily perish without egg-laying ; (b) feeding 

 off or ploughing in any early-sown or volunteer crops which may be found 

 to be infested, so that the eggs and maggots may be destroyed ; and (c) 

 deep ploughing, by which loose puparia or infested stubble may be buried 

 too deep in the ground to allow the perfect flies to emerge. 



From the historical sketch which is given of tlie occurrence of C. 

 destructor, it would appear that although a watch has been kept upon it 

 since its first outburst as a destructive scourge in North America in the 

 year 1786, it had never been actually identified as occurring in Great 

 Britain imtil July, 1886. The large number of widely separated localities, 

 however, from which its ravages have now been reported, might lead one 

 to the conclusion, either that it must have been established for some time 

 previous to that date, and that it was only Miss Ormerod's energy and 

 zeal which then brought its operations to light ; or that some special cir- 

 cumstance has taken place during the past summer by which it has been 

 distributed over the whole kingdom ; or again, that some special climatic 

 condition has allowed it to exist where it had failed to do so before. J- or 

 several years Miss Ormerod has had an active and observant body cf 

 intelligent workers in all quarters of Great Britain, and it is strange, if it 

 existed at all, that nothing has been heard previously of its operations. 

 Nevertheless, on the other hand, from the large quantities of straw and 



