138 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Department of the Interior — Office of the U. S. Entomo- 

 logical Commission. 



Providence, R. I., June, 1879. 



Dear Sir, — The Commission desires your co-operation in obtaining 

 facts concerning the habits of the Hessian Fly, with statistics of losses 

 occasioned in your, town or county by its attacks; and accounts of the 

 remedies best calculated to prevent its increase, and to destroy it. In 

 brief, the habits of the Hessian Fly are as follows : In May and June two 

 or three small, reddish-white maggots may be found embedded in the 

 crown of the roots of the wheat, at or near the surface of the soil, causing 

 the stalks and leaves to wither and die ; the maggots harden, turn brown, 

 then resembling a flax-seed, and change into little black midges with smoky 

 wings, half the size of a mosquito, which appear in spring and autumn, 

 and lay from twenty to thirty eggs in a crease in the leaf of the young 

 plant. Specimens of the fly may be obtained by sweeping the wheat when 

 three or four inches high, with a gauze net. Please send me specimens 

 of the fly, eggs, maggot and "flax-seed," in vials of alcohol, with notes 

 as to the date when found, and full information as to the insect enemies 

 and parasites. 



The Wheat Midge is apt to be confounded with the Hessian Fly. It 

 is a small, mosquito-like fly, orange yellozv, with clear wings, which hovers 

 over fields of young wheat in June. It attacks the heads of the wheat, 

 laying its eggs when the wheat is in blossom. On hatching, the maggots 

 crowd around the young kernels of wheat, causing them to become shriv- 

 elled. The maggots in July and August descend into the ground, spin- 

 ning a round cocoon smaller than a mustard seed, remaining an inch below 

 the surface till the following June. 



Information regarding the following topics is respectfully solicited ; to 

 be forwarded at the close of the season : 



1. When, where, and how are the eggs deposited ? 



2. When does the maggot appear? 



3. When is the " flax-seed " state of the Hessian Fly, or the seed-like 

 cocoons of the Wheat Midge assumed ? 



4. At what date do the Midges appear in spring and. autumn ? 



5. Look for minute parasites in the eggs and maggots. They may be 

 bred by placing the eggs and maggots with the wheat in bottles covered 

 with gauze, and the parasitic flies preserved in vials of alcohol. 



