( xlviii ) 



simultaneous import of infested straw from some given locality 

 into various ports along the coast. Prof. Kiley said tins 

 last view was rather confirmed by the balance of the evidence 

 and the statistics of straw importation, which, so far as he had 

 been able to get at them, showed that straw is brought into 

 Great Britain chiefly from France and Holland, and is carried 

 almost entirely into eastern ports, the port of Glasgow (which 

 reaches so near the eastern coast) being the only notable 

 exception. Much of the straw is also used for manure and 

 distributed by rail. The fact that the insect is yet con- 

 fined to the eastern counties is also confirmatory of its recent 

 advent ; for, had it been long in the country, we should 

 expect it to be uniformly distributed over the grain-growing 

 parts of the island. The testimony of farmers who think 

 they saw the insect in years gone by (there have already been 

 such, and there will be others!) is rarely, if ever, to be 

 depended on ; while entomologists who argue its indigenous 

 character from the general ignorance of, or indifference to, 

 the Cecidomyidm on the part of British Dipterists, or from the 

 difficulty of separating the species of the genus Cecidomyia in 

 the adult state, forget how unique in appearance and easily 

 discerned the puparium is, and put mere opinion against 

 established fact. In conclusion, Prof. Kiley said he believed 

 that the Hessian Fly had, beyond question, been introduced 

 into England since Curtis's time, and probably within the 

 past three or four years. 



Mr. Verrall, in reply to a further question, said he admitted 

 that he had no direct evidence in support of the opinion 

 he had expressed that the Hessian Fly had been in this 

 country for a great number of years. He called attention 

 to a recent paper on the Hessian Fly in Essex by Mr. J. 

 M. Campbell, in which it was stated that Miss Ormerod 

 had found the puparia of the species in some straw im- 

 ported from Belgium. As a matter of fact, however, the 

 insect was not known to occur in Belgium. Mr. Verrall 

 further said that he thought it improbable that Mr. Enock 

 would be able to recognise the perfect insect " off-hand," as 

 there were perhaps nearly 250 British species of CecidomyidcB, 

 all minute, and many so closely allied as to be almost inde- 

 terminable unless bred, or examined when alive. 



