Packard.] 



INSECTS OF THE FIELD. 



213 



half the size of the mosquito, but differs from it in wanting 

 the long mouth-parts, wliile the antennjB are more hairy. 

 It is black, with black wings, while the hind body is tawny 

 and the legs are pale red, with black feet. The body is 

 about a tenth of an inch in lengtli, and the wings expand 

 about a quarter of an inch. There are two broods, the flies 

 appearing both in spring and autumn. At these times the 

 fly laj's from twenty to thirty eggs in a crease in tlie leaf of 

 the young plant. Four days after, if the weather be favor- 

 able, the young, pale red maggots may be seen crawling 

 down the leaf until, arriving at a joint in the stalk of the 

 plant, they remain head downwards, as at figure 167, c. 



Fig, 107. 



Hessian FI7 and young. 



under the base of the leaf, where by the simple pressure of 

 their bodies they become embedded in the side of the stem. 

 Two or three maggots thus embedded are sufficient to cause 

 the plant to Avither and die. In five or six weeks they ma- 

 ture, and by the first of December their skin hardens and 

 becomes of a chestnut-l)rown color. This; is the so-called 

 "flax-seed " state. The outer larval skin encases the larva, or 

 maggot, whose body is contracted and somewhat changed in 

 form. In this state it remains through the winter. Towards 

 the end of April or early in May, the pupa becomes perfected 

 and by the middle of May in New England escapes from the 



21 



