53 
An assistant visited, the next day, the field from which these 
maggots were taken, and found them very abundant in the ground. 
Here, as in Stark county, they were seen only in old sod; and corn 
that was wholly sound, or which had sent up a perfectly healthy 
and vigorous shoot, seemed free from them. Where the grain had 
failed to germinate, or where it had sent up a feeble stalk and had 
itself a watery look and was abnormally soft, it had been attacked 
by the larve, and much of it devoured. In parts of the field where 
the seed had all started freely, there was no appearance of any in- 
jury, the Jarve here being confined to the dead grass, and other 
rotting vegetation. Other corn fields adjacent, which had not been 
previously in grass, were free from the larve. 
Similar observations were made at Normal, June 1, where the 
mageots were found common on old grass lands, devouring corn that 
had failed to germinate, or which was growing feebly, but never, 
as far as scen, eating a sound grain, or attacking a perfectly healthy 
plant. Some infested stalks showed, however, but shght traces of 
feebleness, and it is barely possible that now and then a hill was 
destroyed which would have rallied and saved itself if it had not 
been for these insects. 
For the purpose of verifying these observations, a number of the 
larvee were placed in a pot of earth in which several grains of corn 
had been planted some days before, but only a part of which had 
sprouted. On the 4th of June, this was examined, and several of 
the Jarvee were found at work on one of the partially dead kernels, 
which had sent up an unhealthy shoot about two inches high. 
By the favor of correspondents, specimens of these larvae were 
frequently received from various points in Northern Illinois, and in 
one instance from Cedar county, in Eastern Iowa. In every ease 
where the information could be obtained, it was found that the 
conditions precedent were exactly as above described—the ground 
having been invariably broken up from grass the year preceding. 
The latest mention of this insect in our notes occurred July 10, 
at which date examples were received from Chatsworth, in Livings- 
ton county. 
CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION. 
I made numerous attempts to rear these larve, but all failed without 
exception, and therefore the exact species cannot be determined. 
The characters of the larva itself are sufficient, however, to show 
that it belongs to the order diptera, or two-winged flies, and to the 
family Mycetophilide, which includes a great number of. small, 
gnat-like insects excessively abundant in spring, many of whose 
larve are known to feed either on fungi or on decaying vegetation. 
Careful comparison of the mouth parts of this larva with those of 
this family described and figured by Baron Osten-Sacken, in the first 
volume of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Entomological Society, 
shows that our species probably belongs to the genus Sciara; but 
beyond this fact it is not now possible to go. 
This larva (Plate IV, Fig. 5,) is cylindrical, smooth, white, except 
the head, which is jet-black. The body is divided into twelve seg- 
ments, not including the head, the three anterior of which are 
