226 riRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



sifemoris, Hylemyia deceptivo, Hylemyia similis and Agromyza tritici 

 {loc. cit., pp. 299-303), — all found upon wheat in wheat-fields, except 

 the latter, which Avas reared from larva3 crawling in immense numbers 

 from unthrashed wheat in a barn. Of the other eight species, nothing 

 has been published of their depredations, habits or transformations, but 

 we shall probably not err in accepting them as serious pests which are 

 annually levying no inconsiderable tax upon our wheat crops. 



One of the undetermined Chlorojjs observed by Dr. Fitch may be 

 presumed to be the Chlorojys proxima, of Say, the larvre of which 

 were recently discovered infesting wheat in the month of April, in 

 Fairview, Kentucky, where they were found " working between the 

 blades, and seemingly trying to reach the first joint." The identifica- 

 tion was made, and the larva and pupa described, by Professor Com- 

 stock (in EepL Commis. DepL Agricul. for the Year 1879, p. 257), who 

 also gives, in connection therewith (p. 258), the habits of the Euro- 

 pean species Chlorops lineata (so closely related to C. proxima as to 

 suggest the specific name of the latter) as given by the Commission of 

 French entomologists which was appomted by the Society of Agricul- 

 ture to investigate its history and habits, in consideration of the rav- 

 ages committed by it in the wheat districts. 



The Common Name of this and Other Insects. 



Now that the Meromyza Americana has been discovered in a for- 

 midable attack upon the wheat crop in our State, and the method of 

 the injury disclosed, we shall doubtless soon have occasion to make 

 frequent reference to it. For the convenience of ready reference a com- 

 mon name is desirable, which may easily be recalled by those not 

 versed in entomological science; and as the larva is among the largest 

 of the wheat-infesting Oscimdce, it may with propriety be called tJie 

 vjh eat stem maggot.* The distinctive name may not be agreeable to 

 ears polite, yet it will have the merit of defining the order of insects to 

 which it pertains, and names in popular use should at least convey no 

 erroneous teaching.f 



The "army-worm," the '* cotton-worm," the "canker-worm," the 

 "joint-worm," the " currant- worm," and the "meal-worm," all 

 belong to a different animal kingdom from the worms; the "grain- 

 weevil " is not a weevil, the latter being a beetle and the former a fly ; 



*An allied European species, Chlorops pumilionis, is known as the wheat-stem fly. 



+When these names have been long applied and have come into general use, it might not 

 be advisable, even if practicable, to correct them, but we maj^ be able (and the effort should 

 certainly be made) to prevent a further extension of so objectionable a nomenclature- 

 Some of our entomologists hold to a law of priority in common names as in scientific ones, 

 by authoritj- of which, when once bestowed in a proper publication, they have a valid 

 claim for subsequent use against any others that may be proposed thereafter. 



