33 
instead of “dull” and “coarsely punctate,” and the antenne of both 
elymi and tritici bemg not nine-jointed, but eleven- or twelve-jointed, 
according to sex. 
In this same month Prof. Riley also repeats in the “American 
Naturalist” the substance of his “Rural New Yorker” article, and 
gives figures of the larva of Isosoma tritici. 
Then comes the full and valuable paper of Prof. French in the 
EHleventh Report of the State Entomologist of Illinois (Dr. Thomas), 
published in May, 1882, but evidently written before some of the 
papers already cited,.as in the body of this article the wheat-straw 
worm is still treated as Isosoma allynii. Ina foot-note added to the 
paper, however, the misconceptions of the article are in part cor- 
rected, and that view of the subject is taken which was presented 
in Prof. French’s letters published in the “Prairie Farmer” in March 
and May. 
As the Eleventh Report is doubtless accessible to nearly every 
one who will see this, it is unnecessary to analyze that article fur- 
ther than to perform the indispensable office of calling attention to 
a few conclusions based on imperfect information, which have prac- 
tical consequences of economic importance : 
1. It is now evident that the hymenopterous insect referred to on 
page 74 of the Eleventh Report was parasitic, and the remarks on 
the time of pupation, on page 79, and the description of the adult, 
on page 80, are to be construed with reference to that fact. 
2. This same confusion of species renders inconclusive the reason- 
ing, on page 81, respecting the effects of drouth upon the develop- 
ment of the straw worm, and the consequent inferences as to the 
prevalence of the pest in future; and, 
3. The discrimination of this species has the important result to 
disprove the following statement in the last three lines on page 
80. Speaking of the burning of the stubble, Prof. I’rench says: 
“As in other remedies of this kind, .to be effectual it must be par- 
ticipated in by all the farmers of a community, as the insects can 
readily fly from field to field.” It is the parasites that are winged, 
whereas it will soon be shown that less than one in twenty of “the 
adult straw worms which have hitherto been reared have the power 
of flight. Evidently, therefore, each farmer may almost wholly pro- 
tect himself, without depending on his neighbors, by destroying the 
straw worms in his own fields; and even simple rotation of crops 
will be a valuable protective measure. 
We also arrive at the equally interesting and important conclusion 
that (presuming Eupelmus to be parasitic on Isosoma) if the burn- 
ing of the stubble is postponed until fall, the parasites will all have 
escaped, and will be prepared to lend their services another year, 
while the unparasitized straw worms will themselves all be destroyed. 
The next printed mention of this species is in the “Canadian 
Entomologist” for May, 1882, (Vol. XIV, p. 97), in which Prof. 
French reports that he finds his Isosoma elymi (from. orass) and Riley’s 
Isosoma tritici (the wheat-straw worm) entirely distinct, and gives the 
principal differential characters between these species, and also 
between Isosoma elymi and Isosoma hordet. 
