REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 1901 715 



becoming in a few hours irregularly spotted with deeper red. 

 Between its exclusion and its hatching these red spots are con- 

 tinually changing in number, size and position and sometimes 

 nearly all disappear. A little while before hatching two lateral 

 rows of opaque white spots, about 10 in number, can be seen in 

 each egg. 



The flies may occur any time after the wheat ie up and before 

 killing frosts, and possibly, as pointed out by Dr S. A. Forbes, 

 between killing frosts. The eggs hatch in about four days and 

 the maggots or larvae then make their way down the leaf to the 

 base of the sheath. These soft maggots do not burrow, but lie 

 between the sheath and the stem and absorb their nouri«<hmeut 

 from the adjacent soft tissues, which gradually become depressed 

 and give way as the little insect develops. The maggots are 

 usually found in the fall close to the roots of winter wheat and 

 at or beneath the surface of the soil, while the spring larvae are 

 more common about the second or third joint of the plants. The 

 larval transformations occupy about 20 days but their duration 

 is considerably affected by weather conditions. The duration of 

 the pupal stage is very variable and is much affected by climatic 

 conditions. Cold or heat and dryness tend to lengthen and heat 

 and moisture to shorten the duration of the different stages, 

 specially the pupal. The winter is passed by this insect in the 

 " flaxseed " or pupal stage. The spring brood of flies emerge in 

 April or May and in turn lay eggs on the more luxuriant leaves 

 and another life cycle may be completed in about 30 days. 



Numier of generations. The short time necessary to complete 

 the life cycle permits a number of broods in one season and 

 apparently there are as many generations as weather and food 

 conditions will permit, and we may expect constant breeding of 

 this insect during the growing season if continued damp weather 

 enables wheat, barley and rye to grow luxuriantly throughout 

 that period. During midsummer as a rule the fly, if it appears 

 at all, will find only a little volunteer wheat in fit condition for 

 it to live on, but this was very different with barley in 1901. The 

 spring brood had passed through its transformations and the 

 continued moist weather brought out the flies in hosts. Eggs 

 were laid in large numbers in the barley, specially in that which 



