234 



conclusion referred to in Insect Life (ii, 207), to the effect that the 

 larvie do not puncture the skin on hatching from the egg, but are licked 

 by the cattle, swallowed and lodged in the back of the mouth, or 

 oesophagus, from which point they travel through the (esophagus and 

 then through the subcutaneous connective tissue to some conveiuent 

 l)oint on the back of the animal, where they bore through the skin to 

 the outside and form their characteristic cysts. Dr. Curtice adduces a 

 great deal of evidence in support of this ctmclusiou, and we have already 

 expressed our views on the subject. The paper is well illustrated by 

 figures prepared under Dr. Curtice while he was connected with the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry and which have been loaned to him by the 

 Director of the Bureau, Dr. Salmon. We shall not consider in detail 

 the evidence which Dr. Curtice brings forward, but hope to do it soon 

 at some length in a paper upon certain CEstridfe which has for some 

 time been ready for publication, as we were much interested in the sub- 

 ject and have taken particular i>ains to verify the fact that our common 

 Ox Warble is S. lineata. 



A Careful Study of the Hessian Fly.— We have received from our cor- 

 resijondent, JNIr. Fred. Euock, a brochure entitled ■•' The Life History 

 of the Hessian Fly," which is extracted from the Transactions of the 

 Entomological Society of London, Part ii, 1891. We have been familiar 

 for sometime with Mr. Enock's careful studies of this important pest, 

 and are therefore not surprised at the close research exhibited in this 

 paper. It is the most important contribution to our knowledge of the 

 Hessian Fly which has been published of late years, and the facts 

 which it details can not but prove valuable to the practical side of the 

 investigation. Mr. Enock agrees with us that the Hessian Fly was 

 present in England in barley fields long before it was discovered in 

 1880 and announced as a new pest. His observations cover particu- 

 larly studies of the eggs, larvte, pup?e, and parasites. He has shown 

 by examination, observation, and counting that the number of eggs 

 deposited by a single female varies from 100 to 150, instead of from 80 

 to less than 100 as stated by Wagner. He has made a series of most 

 careful observations upon the use of the "anchor process" or "breast- 

 bone" of the larva in turning about within the puparium. In the course 

 of the investigation of this particular point he has spent many hours 

 watching the living insects under the microscope. He has followed the 

 insect from egg to adult with great care, and found that in one instance 

 it took sixty-three days. He has made careful observations upon the 

 climbing powers of the pupa, and has observed the insect in this stage 

 to cut its way through the leaf sheath by means of the chitinous beak 

 upon its head and work its way out until the leg sheaths were free, the 

 abdomen being held in the orifice. Satisfactory tests were made to see 

 whether the females would reproduce parthenogenetically, but with 



