312 REPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



larvse kad passed to the pupa state, and, with the exception of the ap- 

 pearance of two small, wingless females of tritici on the 20th of the 

 same month, nothing farther transpired to indicate that, under normal 

 conditions, they would transform to adults and emerge before the fol- 

 lowing spring.' 



As the weather became cooler, during the last of November, we 

 placed a quanfity of infested straws in a glass jar, and this was keiJt 

 in a room where the temperature was continually from 68° to 70^ F., 

 tlie remainder of the straw being allowed to remain out of doors. 



i^othing appeared in the jar until the 7th of December, when, in the 

 morning, a single wingless female of tritici was found crawling about 

 on the inside of the glass. She was very small, seemed feeble, and, in 

 fact, died during the afternoon of the same day. 



On the following day a second female appeared, in all respects like 

 the fir^t, only more active, stronger, and larger. A third example made 

 her appearance on the 11th, followed by another on the 14th, and another 

 on the IGth, all females, wingless, and all tritici. 



As fast as they emerged from the straw they were placed on growing 

 wheat plants, covered with large glasses, but none seemed in the least 

 iuclined to oviposit : all were apparently in search of some avenue of es- 

 cape from their confinement, and refused to remain on the plants for 

 any length of time. 



Another female appeared on the 22d, and in the mean time two had 

 died. This state of affairs continued until the 3d of January, when the 

 only remaining female was found dead. Another, however, appeared 

 during the same evening. 



From this time until the 14th of February adults continued to emerge, 

 but after this date none were noticed, although the straw was kept in the 

 jar until June. The attempt to induce them to oviposit had, from first 

 to last, proven a total failure. The question of what had become of 

 grande was now the foremost. 



The infested straw had been taken from very near the exact spot in 

 the field where females of that species had been observed to oviposit in 

 great numbers, and yet not a single one had been obtained. The re- 

 sult could be summed up in just three words, females, wingless, tritici. 



The straw remaining outside was again divided, the major portion be- 

 ing taken indoors. But, with the exception of demonstrating that tritici 

 would begin to emerge, whenever the temperature rose, during the day, 

 to about G20 F., although it might sink to 30° F. during the night, the 

 results were as unsatisfactory as before. 



The last of these straws were taken indoors, but the results did not 

 differ in the least. It was now the 20th of March, and a limited number 

 of straws still remained, in breeding-cage No. 38, placed therein on the 

 Gth of June of the previous summer. 



These straws had been transplanted from a field of wheat near Ox- 

 ford, Ind., and a number of females of grande had been placed in the 

 cage, where they had been observed to oviposit on the 6th of June of 

 last year, the day the straws were transplanted. 



The straws were frequently watered, and kept in growing condition, so 

 that they matured simultaneously with those in the field from which 

 they were taken, and it was in this condition that they were brought to 

 La Fayette, when we changed our location in November. 



The cage had, soon after the change, been placed in a sheltered loca- 

 tion outside one of the university buildings, where it sLill remained. 



On the 23d of March a single adult appeared in the cage, followed 

 during the remainder of the month and the first week of April by 



