June, '12] FELT: IDENTITY OF WHEAT MIDGE 2S9 



evenly curved, simple, the i)ulvilli nearly as long as the claws. Other characters 

 nearly as given for the male. Type Cccid 1411. 



Itonida tritici n. sp. 



This species is a form provisionally referred' by the writer to Ceci- 

 domyia tritici Kirby. The specimens are in the United States Na- 

 tional Museum collection at Washington, were labeled Cecidomyia 

 tritici Kirby and were presumed to be the midge which caused so 

 much loss to American wheat growers in earlier years, since they 

 were reared by Mr. Theodore Pergande from typical wheat midge 

 material. This can not be the European species, since the ovipositor 

 is short. 



Larva. Length 2 mm., moderatelj' stout, reddish orange. Head small, tapering 

 slightly. Antenna; stout, uniarticulate; breastbone distinct, bidentate, the teeth 

 diverging, obliquely truncate; shaft slender, moderately chitinized. Skin coarsely 

 shagi'eened, posterior extremity subtruncate and with six equidistant, subequal 

 papillae or tubercles. 



Male. Length 1 mm. Antenna? one-half longer than the body, thickl}' hau-ed; 

 14 segments, the fifth with stems respectively two and a half and three and a half 

 times then* diameters; terminal segment, distal enlargement cyUndric, with a length 

 two and a half times its diameter and a stout apical appendage three-fourths as 

 long. Palpi; first segment quadrate, the second with a length three times its diam- 

 eter, the third and fourth, the latter shghtly dilated, each nearly as long as the second. 

 Body yellowish. Wings hj'aline, the third vein joining the margin well beyond the 

 apex. Claws slender, stronglj' cm-ved, the pulviUi shorter than the claws. Genitalia; 

 basal clasp segment moderately stout ; terminal clasp segment swollen basaUy, long; 

 dorsal plate short, verj' broadly and triangularly emarginate, the lobes diverging, 

 narrowly rounded; ventral plate long, broad, deeply and roundly emarginate, the 

 lobes slender, irregular apically; stjde long, swollen at the distal fourth. 



Female. Antennae nearly as long as the bodj^ sparsely haired, deep brown or 

 black; 14 segments, the fifth with a stem about as long as the cylindric basal enlarge- 

 ment, which latter has a length two and a half times its diameter and sparse basal 

 and apical whorls of stout setae. Eyes black, face yellowish. Mesonotum oclii-e or 

 tawny j-ellow, darker anteriorlj-. Abdomen a bright orange or reddish orange. 

 Ovipositor short, the lobes narrowly lanceolate, with a length about four times the 

 width. Other characters nearh' as in the male. 



The structural details were drafted from specunens labeled Cecidomyia tritici and 

 kindly placed at our disposal by Dr. Howard of the V. S. Bureau of Entomology. 

 The color characters were taken from the description pubhshed by Dr. Fitch. 



In New Haven, Conn., a warfare is being waged against mosquitoes, and about 

 S4,500.00 has been raised by subscription to pay for oihng the breeding pools and 

 for a certain amount of draining in the worst breeding places in the salt marshes. 

 The local board of health has made regulations regarding receptacles such as rain 

 barrels, tin cans, etc., in which mosquitoes may breed on private propertj'. 



1 1908 N. Y. St. Mus. Bui. 124, p. 414 



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