( xli ) 



the sunshine, and in dull weather hiding away down the 

 hollow stems. I have been enabled to note down a number 

 of observations upon them, but have not had leisure to put 

 them into form. 



" I paid another visit to Kevell's Hall on August 8th, com- 

 mencing my search in another very large barley-field, and, 

 in order to form some sort of an estimate as to the extent of 

 the injured barley, I proceeded to mark out a distance of 

 20 yards ; I then walked up the rows, carefully examining 

 the one between my feet and the three at each side, cutting 

 and counting the infected straws, and placing them in a bag. 

 Having arrived at my distance-post, I noted down the result 

 of each 20 yards worked ; this I continued to do for just 

 four hours. I then measured the width of ground worked, 

 and found it to be just 80 yards ; in this small space, 80 x 20 

 yards, I had cut over 800 infected straws, each containing 

 from one to four puparia. I believe that twice that number 

 were infested, for I noticed many plants looking very 'seedy,' 

 though the ears were anything but seedy ; these were not 

 bent down, but on cutting them I found puparia in the 

 usual place — just above the 2nd joint. You will observe that 

 these ears only contain from six to eight poor grains, instead 

 of nearly thirty, the average number, in a healthy plant. 

 A little time was lost during the four hours above-mentioned 

 in frequently taking off my coat, to free it of the quantity 

 of the irritable barley-ears, which, as everyone knows, have 

 such a knack of working their way up one's sleeves, &c. 



" We have all read from time to time that ' the Commission 

 appointed ' duly report to Parliament in how many counties 

 the crops have been attacked ; but, so far, we have not heard 

 whether any practical steps have been taken to check the 

 progress of the Hessian Fly, or prevent its reappearance next 

 year. I venture to think something might have been done by 

 collecting the infected straw, instead of burning it, so that 

 the parasites might be bred and ' turned down ' in infected 

 localities ; we know they would not require any ' red tape ' to 

 induce them to do their appointed duty. I do not appre- 

 hend that this would be too great an undertaking for the 

 Government, for it is obvious that if one person can in four 



PKOC. ENT. SOC. LOND., IV., 1887. G 



