6 OHIO EXPERIMENT STATION: BULLETIN 197 



be dry and of the color which it usually has when ripe. Upon open- 

 ing one of these abnormal pods, the mass of seeds was found to be 

 fairly filled with active, footless, little yellow maggots, none of them 

 more than 3.25 mm. long. When disturbed they wriggled from the 

 pod and fell to the ground, or bringing the two ends of the body 

 together and suddenly straightening with a jerk, they would 

 jump to a distance of several inches. The seeds themselves 

 and the whole contents of the pod were, in every case, in a decaying 

 condition. The larvae were of very different sizes, some apparent- 

 ly being nearly full grown, while others were evidently very young. 



"Some ten days after the pods had been placed in a breeding 

 jar, the adult flies began to appear minute yellow midges with 

 dusky wings. From that time on through the fall, occasional exam- 

 ination of the pods showed larvae of all sizes still at work, many of 

 the pods becoming entirely brown and dry before the middle of 

 September. It was often a puzzling thing in examining these pods 

 to find the point where the larvae made their exit, for the pupa 

 state is passed underground. Usually one, two or three small 

 orifices would be found through which all the inhabitants of the pod 

 must have issued. The manner in which this hole is made is a 

 mystery. Examined from the inside, it shows marks of gnawings 

 around its edge, and frequently spots are found where attempts to 

 pierce the pod have evidently been made, but unsuccessfully. Yet 

 as cecidomyid larvae have no horny masticating jaws, how have they 

 then made these orifices? In pods which had evidently been 

 attacked earlier in the season, while younger and tenderer, the 

 holes were much larger and more abundant. Occasionally the pod 

 will have become so dry that it will have cracked, and in such cases, 

 of course, no other hole would be neccesary." 



On July 27th, an examination of the seed pods of the hardy 

 catalpa, Catalpa speciosa, was made and injury to them by the 

 midge was just commencing. At intervals on the pods small 

 blackish spots were found which, when examined with a lens, were 

 seen to be minute holes surrounded by a small area from which the 

 skin had been eaten or torn away.- Inside the bean, near the open- 

 ing, a few very young midge larvae were found. Whether the 

 gnawed surface and hole through the wall of the pod were made by 

 the larvae or adults, it is not possible to state with certainty, but in 

 all probability the newly hatched larvae are wholly or chiefly 

 responsible for it. Probably in some cases they take advantage of 

 injured places in the skin and complete openings already started by 

 other agencies. 



Annual Report, U. S. Dept. Agr. 1880, pp. 266-267. 



