naries who constituted a part of this army were inucli despised, both 

 at home and in America, and, on the supposition that these soldiers 



had brought the pest 

 witli them from their 

 native country in the 

 straw used for their 

 bedding while en route, 

 it was oiven the o])nox- 

 ious name of ''Hessian 

 fly.'' Whether or not 

 this theory of its in- 

 troduction was well 

 founded can never be 

 either substantiated or 

 disproven, and all that 

 can now be said is. that 

 the pest was imported, 

 probably from some 

 trans-Atlantic countr}' 

 and some time during 

 the latter half of the 

 eighteenth centur}". As 

 a matter of interest, it 

 mav be stated that, in some quarters, the more ignorant Tory element 

 of those days claimed that General Washington was responsible for 

 this pest. It was not technically described until 1817. 



Fic;. 2.— The Hessian fly 



Adult male, much enlarged (from 

 Marlatt). 



DESCRIPTION OF THE INSECT. 



The fly itself (tig. 1, female; fig. 2, male) is ver\ 

 about one-tenth of an inch long, the body of an 

 obscure dark color, and the form much like that 

 of a very small mosquito. The abdomen of the 

 female (fig. 1) is red, or yellowish when first 

 hatched from the "flaxseed,'' the color varying 

 with age, the posterior segments terminating in 

 a compressed cylindrical, very minutely haiiy 

 ovipositor, capable of great extension. The male 

 (fig. 2) is smaller, more slender, and in color gen- 

 erally darker than the female, the abdomen ter- 

 minating in a somewhat intricate organ composed 

 of a set each of outer and inner claspers. 



The egg (fig. ?>) is very minute, being only 

 about one-fiftieth of an inch in length, cylindi"ical, 

 roundingly pointed at the ends, glossy translu- 

 cent, and slightly reddish, this color deepening 

 with development. 



The larim or maggot (tig. l"). when newly hatched, 1 

 than the Qgg, with a slightly reddish tinge; later, a 



mall, beinii" onlv 



A 



y 



Fig. 3.— Egg of Hessian fly, 

 greatly enlarged; section of 

 leaf of wheat, at right, sliow- 

 injr eggs asusually deposited, 

 less enlarged (original). 



a little smaller 

 it increases in 



