325 



do so. Since that time, however, we liave found that the same differ- 

 ence was fully ilhistrated as early as 1820,* and though the ligures were 

 possibly less artistic than our own, they conveyed the idea equally as 

 well. Three years later, in the same publication, Mr. Tliomas Beesley, 

 of Gape May, wrote, advising those who wished to tind the fly in 

 fall wheat to " look for the spears that are darkest and stand most 

 upright." t And, as if this were not enough to imnish us for our rash 

 aspirations, we find that in 1840 " J. G.,'' a correspondent of the Farm- 

 ers' Cabinet, place of residence not stated, reports that he had (Octo- 

 ber 23) just finished plowing up a field of wheat which " was the best 

 field to appearance in the neighborhood," but not one plant or shoot 

 could the owner find in the whole field " but what had fi-om two to a 

 dozen, or more, nits or eggs at the root." | This communication appeared 

 to " move " another correspondent of the same i^ublication, who signs 

 himself " Thirty years a farmer, Delaware County," no State given, but 

 whose "thees" betoken a Quaker, states that he also finds one of his 

 fields, until lately ''growing handsomely," now dying, "a mass of cor- 

 ruption, and a greater portion rotted off at the ground." § 



In the Third Reportof the U. S. Entomological Commission (p. 210), 

 considerable space is given to the development of this insect during 

 the summer months. It does not seem, however, that Michigan flies, 

 as there cited, differ materially from those of other localities, nor had 

 they improved much upon the habits of their ancient brethren, for, in 

 1820, Mr. James Worth obseryed the adult April 19; eggs, April 24; 

 pupse. May 15; adults early in June, and on the 12th of same month all 

 stages were observed. Adults were noticed from the 15th of the follow- 

 ing August until October, and again November 25, and he reared them 

 indoors December 25 and February 20. In summing up the matter he 

 says: " It may then be said that during the past year (1820) there hare 

 been three complete broods and partially a fourth." || 



The Stalk-borer, Gortyna nitela, seems to have formed a taste for 

 wheat at an early day, although little is said of the habits of the larvie 

 prior to 1840. Dr. Harris found a larva in potato stalks in 1848, which 

 seems to have prompted his description.^ Mr. Thomas Beesley, of 

 Cape May, as early as 1823, mentions a worm which ate into the straw 

 about the second or third joint,** while Mr. Jabez Jenkins, of West 

 Whiteland, Chester County (Pa.?), stated in 1840 that a new enemy of 

 wheat had made its apj)earauce in his and an adjoining county, the 

 same being " a worm about three-quarters of an inch long, of a brown 



* American Farmer, Vol. ii, p. 174, 1820. 



t Loc. cit., Vol. V, p. 165, 1823. 



t Farmers' Cabinet, Vol. v, p. 138, 1840. 



$Loc. cit., p. 172. 



II American Farmer, Vol. in, p. 188, also loc. cit., p. 213. 

 II Entomological Correspondence, p. 315. 

 ** American Farmer, Vol. v, p. 165, 1823- 



