REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 1918 4I 
entirely to our destructive wheat midge, which in some localities at 
least is the Moselle midge. 
Early American history. The data brought together by Doctor 
Fitch indicate the probable establishment of this insect upon the 
St Lawrence river some 40 miles above Quebec in 1828 or earlier and 
its gradual spread southward through the Champlain and Hudson 
valleys and westward along the Mohawk valley and beyond until 
it had established itself in the entire wheat-growing areas of this and 
adjacent states. The appearance of this insect in the wheat fields 
was accompanied by losses far in excess of those characteristic of 
later outbreaks. It was so extremely destructive that wheat grow- 
ing was abandoned for a time in portions of the upper Hudson 
valley. The devastation was so complete in some fields that the 
crop was not worth harvesting. Doctor Fitch and well-informed con- 
temporaries state that the yield from large sections of the State was 
not one-third or one-fourth of an ordinary crop One of the most 
interesting features in connection with this outbreak was the markedly 
greater losses during the first few years of the midges’ presence, 
followed later by much less damage. The loss in New York State 
in 1854 was estimated at $15,000,c00 and correspondingly severe 
damage occurred in the state of Ohio. Yields of but one bushel an 
acre were not uncommon and there is at least one record of nearly 
a handful of maggots being rubbed out from a head of wheat. This 
latter was not very much more than our last summer’s record of 
73 maggots from one head. In 1856 the pest is credited with having 
destroyed from one-half to two-thirds of the crop in Livingston 
county on the uplands and near y allon the flats. At least 2000 acres 
on flats which would have yielded 30 bushels an acre were not har- 
vested and cond tions were even worse in 1857. 
There have been minor outbreaks since these early days and in 
some instances a considerab’e infestation in individual fields and 
perhaps over areas of large extent. Apparently most of these have 
been much more restricted than was true of 1917 and 1918 though it 
should not for a moment be supposed that the general occurrence 
of this pest during the past two years is ikely to result in any such 
widespread damage as occurred in 1854 or thereabouts. The wheat 
midge was then a comparatively recent introduction and presumably 
exempt in large measure from attack by natural enemies. Alli the 
evidence points to the general prevalence of this insect year after 
year in the wheat-growing areas. The reason for the great discrep- 
ancy between the losses of earlier years and those occurring or likely 
to occur at the present time, is that natural enemies of this pest have 
