No. 105.] 269 



ovipositor into contact with the germ of the future grain, through this 

 tube one egg after another is passed in at short intervals until several 

 are deposited. The usual number of eggs thus deposited, appeared to 

 be from six to ten ; and as thrice or four times as many larvse can 

 sometimes be met with on a single germ, it is probable that three or 

 four insects sometimes successively puncture the same floret. Very 

 frequently two, four or six flies may be seen at the same time on diffe- 

 rent florets of the same ear, depositing their eggs ; and Mr. Shirreff" 

 says, " Upon one occasion I numbered thirty-five flies on a single ear, 

 and, after carrying it a distance of a quarter of a mile, six of them 

 still continued to deposit eggs." This work being done, another labo- 

 rious task for the tin;y creature remains, that of withdrawing the oviposi- 

 tor ; and to accomplish this, the energies of the insect are sometimes 

 ' inadequate, and it remains, Prometheus-like, chained to an immoveable 

 mountain, until it expires. This curious fact, first observed by Mr. 

 Kirby, I have seen fully verified, meeting in several instances with the 

 dead insect still remaining thus suspended. 



Although the flowers of the wheat are the favorite resort of this 

 insect for depositing its eggs, yet it is not limited solely to this plant. 

 It is currently reported to have been occasionally met with in rye 

 and oats in this country. Mr. Shirreff" and Mr. Gorrie both found 

 the wheat-worm in ears of the quack or couch grass [Triticurn re- 

 pens Linn. ; Jlgropyron repens, Pal. de Beauvois) ; and the latter 

 gentleman hereupon rather naively remarks, " The fly has not known 

 that modern botanists no longer ranged the couch grass among the 

 wheat tribe ; but, like myself, it is most attached to the Linnsean 

 names and systems." Mr. Markwick also found the same worms in 

 the wild bearded oats (Jlvenafestuca, Linn.) 

 The eggs are of an oblong, cylindrical form, with rounded ends, 

 ' They are pellucid and nearly colorless at first, but acquire a yellow- 

 ish tinge ere they are hatched, which is in rather over a week after 

 they are deposited. 



The larva has two distinct stages in its existence : an active or 

 growing state, which is passed through in about a month ; and a 

 dormant state, which then supervenes, and continues through the 

 winter. This latter has been generally but incorrectly regarded as 

 its pupa state by writers. ' 



When it comes from the egg, the larva is a minute oblong soft 



