REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 

 SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



197 



INS"ECT PESTS. 



Fig. 



1. — The Hessian Fly — enlarged and 

 natural size. 



THE HESSIAN ELY 



(Cecidomyia destructor, SayJ. 



A serious outbreak of the Hessian Ely in the fall wheat fields of western Ontario 

 during the past season has to be recorded. There was some appearance of the summer 



brood in the same districts, but only a few 

 references were made to the insect, until it 

 was found that the new crop of fall wheat 

 was infested to a degree which has seldom 

 been seen in Canada for many years. The 

 district where the greatest harm was done, 

 was in the area lying to the west of Lake 

 Ontario, and north of Lake Erie. 



Prof. Lochhead, of the Guelph, Ontario, 

 Agricultural College, writes as follows : — 



'Guelph, December 22. — The Hessian 

 Ely is very general in Essex, Kent, Elgin, 

 Korfolk, Haldimand, Lincoln and Middlesex ; it is reported from various parts of 

 Welland, Lambton, Huron, Oxford and Brant. Occasional mention is made of it in 

 Perth and Simcoe. Practically none is reported from Bruce, Grey, Wellington, 

 Waterloo and Dufferin. The eastern half of the province is practically free from the 

 Hessian Fly. (The above information was obtained chiefly through the reports of the 

 Bureau of Industries.) Professor Pettit, of the Michigan Agricultural College, 

 writes me, December 1, that this year all early sown wheat, and, in fact, all wheat 

 sown before October 1, is infested, some of it badly. This is the case over a great part 

 of the state. In ordinary years the third week in September is late enough to sow 

 wheat to escape the fly, and we should not, I think, make our deductions from two 

 •uch unusual years as the last were.' 



' Brantf ord (Brant Co.), Ont., August 3. — The Hessian Fly has been bad in this 

 neighbourhood this season. How late should I sow my wheat in order to escape the 

 fly altogether ? Would there be any use in sowing as small a plot as half an acre on a 

 flfty-acre farm, to act as a trap, if no neighbour sowed any wheat extra early ? What 

 would be the best date to sow ?' — T. E. Howell. 



'Waterford. (ITorfolk Co.), Ont., Nov, 7. — The Hessian Fly seemed to injui-e 

 the sample of wheat this year by preventing some of the grain from maturing. Late 

 Bown fall wheat seems rather free this autumn, but that sown early seems to be in 

 «ome cases so badly infested that farmers are talking of ploughing it under.' 



' Waterf ord (NorfoUi Co.), Ont., November 29. — I have found two fields quite 

 close together which are affected by the Hessian Ely. The grower, Mr. James Clark, 

 states that both fields were sown from 15th to 23rd September. In one, a field of 

 Clawson wheat, I believe that SO per cent of the plants contain Hessian Fly puparia, 

 and in the other field, of Democrat wheat, about 30 per cent. You will notice from the 

 specimens sent that the Clawson plants affected show the upper and earlier sprout 

 generally killed, but there is an uninjured sprout growing up from the original seed. 

 The Democrat variety, on the other hand, shows that the insect has not injured the 

 original sprout to so great an extent, and, consequently, this second sprout from the 

 fleed has not made its appearance in so many cases as in the Clawson. With respect 



