IMPERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF THE GRAIX-FLIES. 225 



living near the base of the stem and eating out the plume of wheat, 

 barley, etc., " thus destroying the future ear." Oscinisfrit Linn., oc- 

 cupies the husks of the barley, injuring the crop in Sweden annually, 

 as calculated by Linnaeus a century ago, to the amount of half a mil- 

 lion of dollars. Oscinis granarius Curtis, lives in the stems of wheat, 

 but its excessive ravages are restrained by numerous Pteromalus 

 l)arasites. Oscinis ^^X'inilionis and Oscinis glabra Westw., occur " in 

 the lower part of stems of wheat, rye and barley, causing the plants to 

 become stunted in growth." Other allied si)eeies {0. tw7no]}us Meig. 

 and others) are said to cause a swelling in the stems of wheat and 

 barley, known in England as the " Gout." 



Lack of Knowledge of our Grain-flies. 



The great need of the study of our injurious insects is shown in our 

 almost entire ignoi'ance of the habits and transformations of the de- 

 structive flies which comprise the family of Oscinidce. Mr. Glover, 

 in his report for the year 1873 (page 134), writes : " It is 

 singular that we hear no particular or decided complaints from our 

 own farmers of any insects in the stalks of wheat, excepting the well- 

 known joint-worm, which is a hymenopterous insect, and has four 

 wings instead of two. We have several species of C7ilorops in this 

 country, the flies of which are extremely abundant among the plants 

 in grain-fields, and no doubt, do attack our grain in the same manner 

 as the European species, but as yet they have not done sufficient 

 damage to attract the attention of the agriculturist." 



Dr. Fitch, in his notice of the wheat and barley flies of the genera 

 Chlorops and Oscinis and others {First and Second Report Nox. his. 

 N. Y., pp. 397, 298, 300), records and comments upon their abun- 

 dance : ''I have the present season discovered these small flies in 

 abundance, in every Avheat field in my neighborhood. On sweeping 

 with a net anywhere among growing wheat, a multitude of them will 

 be gathered. They are of several different kinds. * * * * 

 One of these species [Saj)romyza (Chlorops) vulgaris] was so abun- 

 dant the latter part of June, that at almost every step in any of our 

 wheat fields a dozen or more of them could be seen. * * * * 



"I doubt not it is from the number of these and other insect depre- 

 dators which abound upon our wheat, that we are no longer able to pro- 

 duce such crops of this grain as were uniformly harvested formerly, 

 when our lauds were newly cleared. How is it possible for wheat to 

 grow vvitli any thriftiness when it is incessantly assailed by such hosts 

 of these enemies, bleeding it at every pore ?" 



Of the above flies, Dr. Fitch names and describes k^iplionella obesa, 

 Chlorops vulgaris, C. aniennalis, Oscijiis tibialis, 0. coxejidix, 0. eras- 

 29 



