353 



base, making- the field appear in i)atclies, as Mr. Ahvood describes it,, 

 as if a fire bad swept over it. 



The eggs were found on May 9 of the same year, and from bis notes 

 we learn that they are inserted just under the edge of the leaf sheath 

 in groups of 2, 3, and 5, and also singly. Tbcegg is of a i)ure pearly 

 white color, five times as long as broad, and tapering to a point at 

 each end. The larv;e, after hatching, distribute themselves along 

 under the sheath, ten to fifteen under one. sheath, thus exhausting the 

 juices of the plant, the outer leaves first becoming brown and seared? 

 and the whole stalk finally withering away. The pu])aria are formed 

 under the sheath, although in two instances the larva- had eaten a sbt 

 into the blade, inserted its body part of the way, and there transformed 

 into a puparium. 



In April, 189-1, specimens of a young sugar-cane i)lant weie received 

 through the Division of Chemistry, to which Division it had been sent 

 by Mr. E, o^elsou Fell, of ^arcoossee, Osceola County, Fla., with the 

 information that about 5 per cent of the sprouts were afiected by au 

 insect, which proved ujwn examination to be the larva of this species. 

 The damage done by the insect had been seen by the Chemist of the 

 Department, Dr. H. W. Wiley, during a visit to the Department Sugar 

 Experiment Station at Runnymede, Fla., in the spring of the same 

 year. The infested plant was kept under observation in the insectary 

 and the adult flies issued from April 28 to May 5. No complaint of 

 damage to sugar-cane has since been received. In August, 1893, speci- 

 mens of the adnlt insect were received from Prof. C. P. Gillette, of 

 Ames, Iowa, who wrote that they had been reared from larviie found 

 boring in the center of a stalk of corn on July 5. This note is quoted 

 in Insect Life, vol. ii, p. 281). 



On the 26th of June, 1894, Mr. William Saunders, Superintendent of 

 the Department grounds, brought to this office a small cornstalk 

 infested with the larvie of this insect. The plant had been obtained 

 from some point in Maryland, but the exact locality was not ascer- 

 tamed. The larv;e had formed a cavity of considerable size, the inte- 

 rior of which presented a brownish appearance. The i)erfect insect 

 issued July 5. 



We know nothing of the method of hibernation of this insect, and 

 the only available remedy, from our present knowledge, will consist m 

 the pulling up and destroying of infested i)lants as soon as the presence 

 of the insect is noticed. It is evident from these isolated observations 

 that the damage done by this species is quite widespread. It lives 

 hidden from view and thus escaj)es detection. Its transformations are 

 rapidly accomplished, and there are probably several annual genera- 

 tions. The rapidity of its transformations is such that it has probably 

 frequently accomplished its work and escaped before its presence has 

 even been suspected. It is practically a new insect enemy of cereals, 

 and it is quite within the bounds of possibility that it may, at some 



