Entomological Notes. 335 



says that " the fly very rarely lays more than three eggs at one 

 time without change of position. She more frequently lay two, 

 and generally but one. In case she lays but one, it takes less than 

 a quarter of a minute, and less than a half a minute to lay three, 

 when they are all laid without a change of position oa the part oE 

 the fly. After laying she seems to draw in her ovipositor, soon to 

 extend it a^ain.at the sam 3 time crowding into it the one, two or 

 three eg^s that are next to be hid. She then flies t) another leif, 

 alighting usually, not always, with heal towards the end of the 

 leaf. She then appears to wipe the eggs off the jointed ovipositor. 

 She really crowds the egg till the end touches the leaf, when by 

 friction of the leaf and adhesion of the egg, the latter is held fast 

 while the egg-tub3 is withdrawn. If the second and third are to 

 be laid she repeats the operation, after which she retracts her 

 ovipositor, restocks it, and in a trice is depositing the fatal germs 

 on another leaf. I say usually on the upper surface, for occasion- 

 ally eggs are laid on the stalk, and sometime* on the under side 

 of a leaf. I have observed that the fly often makes many unsuc- 

 cessful effort* to cause the egg t3 adhere on the outer face of the 

 leaf before she succeeds. I have seen a fly work thus for two 

 minutes before success crowned her efforts. The fly may thus 

 learn by experience that it is easier t) deposit on the inner or 

 upper face of the blade, and so generally choose that surface. 



'•These eggs hatch in from four days to two or three weeks, 

 according to the weather, and the larva or miggot (Fig. 24, 3, 5) 

 makes its way down to the base of the sheith, which in the young 

 winter wheat is at the crown of the root, llere it fastens length - 

 wie and heal downwards to the tender stalk, and lives upon the 

 f-ap. It does not gnaw the stalk, nor does it enter the central 

 cavity thereof, but as it increases in size, it gradually becomes 

 imbedded in the substance of it, causing it to swell and the plant 

 to turn yellow and die. By the end of November, or from thirty 

 to forty days after the wheat is sown, they assume the "flaxseed " 

 (Fig. 2-1-4 and 6) state, and may, on removing the lower leaves, 

 be found as little brown, oval, cylindrical, smooth bodies, a little 

 smaller than grains of rice. They remain in the wheat until 

 warm weather; in April the larva rapidly transforms into the 



