256 



ORDER DIPTERA 



studies show that this was not the true Hessian fly. If any 

 attempts are made to control it by rotation of crops its 

 restriction of food plants should be well known. Its life- 

 qycle is qj^iite similar to that of the clover-flower midge and 

 it has become very distinctly adapted to the crop it infests. 

 Any great change in ordinary methods of raising wheat 

 would likely prove destructive to the insect. The winter is 



199. — The Hessian fly {Mayeliola destructor): adult female — much 

 enlarged. (After Webster, Div. Ent., U. S. Dept. Ag.) 



passed in the flaxseed stage — the puparium stage. The 

 larval skin shrinks and forms a tough, dark brown covering 

 about the size and shape of a flaxseed. Within this there 

 is formed a real pupa that has the outline and features of the 

 adult insect. There is a distinct metamorphosis. These 

 hibernating puparia give rise in early spring to adult midges 

 that deposit eggs on the stems and leaves of wheat plants — 



