444 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



the maggots after they have left the grain, and have betaken them- 

 selves to their winter quarters, just below the surface of the 

 ground, remains to be proved. Some persons have advised 

 burning the stubble, and ploughing up the ground, soon after the 

 grain is harvested, in order to kill the maggots, or to bury them 

 so deeply that they could not make their escape after they were 

 transformed to flies. Perhaps thoroughly liming the soil before 

 it is ploughed, may contribute to the destruction of the insects. 

 It is stated that our crops may be saved from injury by sowing 

 early in the autumn or late in the spring. By the first, it is sup- 

 posed that the grain will become hard before many of the flies 

 make their appearance ; and by the latter, the plants do not come 

 into blossom until the flies have disappeared. In those parts of 

 New England where these insects have done the greatest injury, 

 the cultivation of fall-sown or winter grain has been given up ; 

 and this, for some years to come, will be found the safest course. 

 The proper time for sowing in the spring will vary with the lati- 

 tude and elevation of the place, and the forwardness of the season. 

 From numerous observations, made in this part of the country, it 

 appears that grain sown after the fifteenth or twentieth of May 

 generally escapes the ravages of these destructive insects. Late 

 sowing has almost entirely banished the wheat-flies from those 

 parts of Vermont where they first appeared ; and there is good 

 reason to expect that these depredators will be completely starved 

 out and exterminated, when the means above recommended have 

 been generally adopted and persevered in, for several years in 

 succession. 



Mrs. Gage has discovered another pernicious insect in the 

 ears of growing wheat. It seems to agree with the accounts 

 of the Thrips cercalium, which sometimes infests wheat, in 

 Europe, to a great extent. This insect belongs to the order 

 Hkmiptera. In its larva state, it is smaller than the wheat 

 maggot, is orange-colored, and is provided with six legs, two 

 antenna', and a short beak, and is very nimble in its motions. It 

 is supposed to suck out the juices of the seed, thus causing the . 

 latter to shrink, and become what the English farmers call pun- 

 gled. This little pest may probably be destroyed by giving the 

 grain a thorough coating of slacked lime. 



