MAGGOTS. 411 



red feet, and a blunt tail. These have been frequently 

 mistaken for the wheat-fly ; but as it has only two wings, 

 while they have /o?ir, the distinction is obvious. In order 

 to observe the proceedings of the ichneumons, Kirby placed 

 a number of the larvae of the wheat-flv on a sheet of white 



Transformations of the wheat-fly : a, the female fly, magnified; b, larva\ natural size, 

 feeding ; c, one magnified. 



paper, and set a female ichneumon in the midst of them. 

 She soon pounced upon her victim, and intensely vibrating 

 her antennas, and bending herself obliquely, plunged her 

 ovipositor into the body of the larva, depositing in it a 

 single egg. She then passed to a second, and proceeded in 

 the same manner, depositing a single egg in each. Nay, 

 when she examined one which she found had already been 

 pricked, she always rejected it and passed to another.* 

 Mr. Shireff repeated these experiments successfully, except 

 that he saw an ichneumon twice prick the same maggot, 

 which " writhed in seeming agony," and " it was again 

 stung three times by the same fly." He adds, " the earwig 

 also destroys the larvae, three of which I successively pre- 

 sented to an earwig, which devoured them immediately."t 

 Mr. Gorrie describes these ichneumons as appearing in 

 myriads on the outside of the ear; but as impatient of 

 bright light, sheltering themselves from the sun's rays 

 among the husks. 



Our English naturalists were for many years of opinion, 

 that the insect called the Hessian-fly, so destructive to 

 wheat crops in America, belonged to the same family 

 {Muscidce) with the common house-fly ; and Mr. Markwick, 

 an intelligent naturalist, by a series of observations on a 

 * Linn. Trans, ut supra. f Loudon's Mag. ut supra. 



