64 



THE REPORT OF THE 



[ No. 19 



of Waterford, Ont., has noticed that different varieties of wheat are not irjured to the same 

 extent ; for instance, in one field of Clawson wheat about eighty per cent, of the plants 

 contained Hessian Fly puparia, while Democrat wheat near at head was only injured to 

 an extent of thirty per cent. Again, Clawson wheat wag as a rule attacked in the upper 

 and earlier sprout which was killed, but an uninjured sprout was growing from the seed. 

 Democrat wheat, on the other hand, showed the original sprout unirjared or to a much 

 less degree than the other variety, and the secondary shoot had not by the tnd of 

 November so far been produced. Of the two fields the Democrat looked green and 

 healthy, but the Olawson looked yellow and faded, and there was a great deal of rust on 

 the leaves. 



A yfllow colour so often referred to by farmers as an indication of the presence of 

 Hessian Fly is a sign by no means always to be relied on, for, as Professor Webster, of 

 Ohio, has pointed out,' infested plants are for a time of a brighter green and more stocky 

 than those in a healthy condition. However, there are fn quently in the autumn 

 enough dead leaves and shoots to give the fields a brown and unhealthy appearance, and 

 these together with leaves attacked by the fungous disease rust, which sometimes, as dur- 

 ing i-be present autumn, is very abundant, may have been the cause of the appearance 

 which is so often described as " yellow from Hesdan Fly." 



OuTWOKMS IN Grain. — There have been reports from restricted localities chiffly in 

 the western counties, of injury to grain fields by the larvae of the amputating brocade 

 moth {Hadena arctica, Bdv.) and other cutworms. 



WiREWORMS are mentioned in several 

 localities but no specimens have been sent 

 in. 



White Grubs. The larvse of the Jane 

 beetles (Lachnosterna), {Fir^;. 15, 3 and 4), have 

 done a good deal of harm not only in pastures 

 but to some field crops in different parts of 

 the province. Notwithstanding the very 

 different appearance of these two kinds of 

 grubs, I find that thfy are very frequently 

 confounded with each other by farmers. 

 Wireworms (Fig. 19), the larvae of the Click 

 Beetles (Figs. 16, 17, 18), are blender cylin- 

 drical shaped, tough-skinned, bright yellow, 

 grubs, about one inch long by one-eighth of 

 an inch, or less, wide. The two ends of the 

 body are somewhat similar in general appear- 

 ance ; Fig. 20 represents the pupa of a wire- 

 worm, upper and under side. White Grubs 

 (Fig. 15, 2) on the other hand, are much 



larger, heavy-bodied, almost sack-shaped, white grubs with yellow heads having the 



end of the body enlarged, curved down and brown from their earthy contents showing 



through the thin skin. If the body were straightened, it would measure an inch and a 



half or more, by three-eighths of an inch wide at the 



widest part. The duration of the larval life of these 



two insects is probably, about the same. The eggs of 



the June beetles are laid in spring, and the young 



grubs feed all the first summer and through the second 



one, attacking the roots of all kinas of plants, but be- 

 ing most numerous in fields where there are trees, or 



round the edgfs of fields near trees. By the end of 



the second summer they become full-grown and change 



to beeth s, but do not emerge until the spring of the 



third year. Wireworms begin their lives much less 



regularly at any certain time of the year ; the peifect 



beetles belong to a very large number of genera and 



epccitp, which occur through the season, and the eggs 



Fig. 15. 



-White grub : 1. pupa ; 2. larva ; 3 and 4. 

 June beetle. 



Fig. 18. 



Fig. 19.— A Wireworm. 



