CECIDOMYID^. 375 



the wheat is coming up ; the}- lay their eggs for a period of 

 thi-ee weeks, and then entirely- disappear. The maggots hatched 

 from these eg\<is take the flax-seed form in June and July, and 

 are thus found in the harvest time, most of them remaining on 

 the stubble. Most of the flies appear in the autunni, but others 

 remain in the puparium until the following spring. By burn- 

 ing the stubble in the fall, their attacks may best be prevented. 

 Among the parasites on this species, are the egg-parasites, 

 Platj'gaster, and Semiotellus (Ceraphron) destructor Saj^ (Fig. 

 140), the latter of which pierces 

 the larva through the sheath of the 

 leaf. Two other Ichneumon para- 

 sites, according to Herrick, destroy 

 the fly while in the flax-seed or 

 semipnpa state. The ravages of the 

 Hessian-fly have been greatly 

 checked by these minute insects, so 

 that it is in many localities not so 

 destructive as it was formerly. Dr. 

 Fitch has suggested that the Euro- ^^^- ^**'- 



pean parasites of this insect and the C. tritici, could be im- 

 ported and bred in large quantities, so as to stop their ravages. 

 AVith proper pecuniary aid from the State this seems feasible, 

 while our native parasites might perhaps also be bred and 

 multiplied so as to effectually exterminate these pests. 



The Wheat-midge, JJiplosls tritici, attacks the wheat in the 

 ear. When the wheat is in blossom the females lay their eggs 

 in the evening by means of the long retractile tube-like extrem- 

 ity of the body, within the chafty scales of the flowers, in 

 clusters of from two to fifteen or more. In eight or ten days 

 the eggs disclose the transparent maggots, which with age be- 

 come orange colored, and when fully grown are one-eighth of an 

 inch long. They crowd around the germ of the wheat, which 

 by pressure becomes shrivelled and aborted. At the end of 

 July and in the beginning of August the maggots become 

 full fed, and in a few days moult their skins, leaving the old 

 larva skin entire, except a little rent in one end of it. "Great 

 numbers of these skins are found in the wheat ears immediately 

 after the moulting process is completed." Sometimes the 



