THE FARMERS' REGISTEfl, 



351 



posite their eggg. Their young are liiile footless 

 maggots, tapering at each end, and generally ofa 

 deep yellow or orange color. They live on ihe 

 juices ot'planig, and undergo their translbrmaiions 

 either in these plan s or in the ground. 



The Hessian fly was sriemifii-ally described by 

 Mr. S^iy, in 1817, under the nanje ol Cecidomyia 

 destructor. It obtamed its common narne Ironi a 

 Bupposiiion that it was brought to this country in 

 some straw, bvthe Hessian troops under the com- 

 mand oJ Sir Wiiliam Howe, in the war of the Re- 

 volution. This su()posiiion, however, lias been 

 thought to be erroneous, because the early inqui- 

 ries made to discover the Hessian fly in Germany 

 were unsuccessful ; and, in consequence thereof', 

 Sir Joseph Banks, in this report to tlie British go- 

 vernment, in 1789, Slated that " no such insect 

 could be lound to exist in Germany or any other 

 partof Eurofe." It appears, however, that the 

 same insect, or onecxHcily like ii in habits, had 

 been long known in Europe ; an account of it 

 may be found in Diihamel's " Practical Treatise 

 of Husbandry," and in a communicaiion made to 

 the Duke of Dorset, in 1788, by the Royal Society 

 of Agricuhure of France. In the year 1833, the 

 wheat it! Hungary was considerably injured by an 

 insect of the same kind, supposed to l)e the Hes- 

 einn fly by the B^ron Kollar. Moreover, Mr E. 

 C. Herrick, of New Haven, Connecticut, has re- 

 cently published an account of this discovery ol the 

 true Hessian fly, by Mr James D. Dana, in Minor- 

 ca, near Toulon in France, and in the vicinity of 

 Naples. Nothing has yet been found relative to 

 the existence of the Hessian fly in America belbre 

 the Revolution. It was first discovered in the 

 year 1776, in the neichborhood of Sir William 

 Howe's debarkation on Sialen Island, and at Flat 

 Bush, on the west end of Long Island. Having 

 multiplied in these places, the insects gradually 

 spread over the southern parts of New York and 

 Connecticut, and continued to proceed inland at 

 the rale of fifteen or twenty miles a-year. They 

 reached Saratoga, two hundred miles from their 

 original station, in 1789. Dr. Chapman says that 

 they were found west of the Alleghany mountains 

 in 1797; from their progress through the country, 

 having apparently advanced about thirty miles 

 every summer. Wheat, rye, barley and even 

 timothy grass were attacked by them ; and so 

 great were their ravages in the larva state, that 

 the cultivation of wheat was abandoned in many 

 places where they had established themselves. In 

 a communication by Mr. J. W. Jeffreys, published 

 in the sixth volume of Buefs Cultivator, it is sta- 

 ted, that soon alter the battle olGuildford, in North 

 Carolina, the wheal crops were destroyed by the 

 Hessian fly in Orange county, through which the 

 British army, composed in part ofHeesian soldiers, 

 had previously passed. Although it ia possible 

 that, in this instance, the chinch bug may have 

 been mistaken for the Hessian fly, the remark 

 ehowe how prevalent was the belief respecting the 

 introduction of the Jatter. The /bregoing sTate- 

 ments, taken in connexion with the hlibits of the 

 Hessian fly, induce me to think that the common 

 opinion relative to its origin is deserving of some 

 credit, although we are as yet without any positive 

 evidence of the existence of this insect in 

 la^ermany. 



The Ibllowing brief history of the habits and 

 transformations of the Hessian fly will be found 



to agree essentially with the excellent observa- 

 tions on this insect, written in the year 1797, by 

 Dr. Isaac Chafiman, and published in the filth vo- 

 lumeofihe " Memoirs of the Philadelphia Society 

 (or promoting Agriculture." Mr. Herrick has 

 kindly permiiied rue to make (ree use of his valua- 

 ble account of this insect, contained in the /brty- 

 lirst volume of '-The American Journal of 

 Science," and of other information comir.unicaled 

 by him to me in various letters. The latter gen- 

 tleman ha3 spent some time in carefully observintr 

 the habits ol the fly, during many years in suc^ 

 cession ; and, having fiited himself Ibr the task by 

 the study ol the natural history of insects in gene- 

 ral, his statements may be implicitly relied u|ion. 

 Moreover, they are corroborated by the observa- 

 tions of many other persons, published in various 

 works, which I have consulied in the course ol ray 

 investigations. Nor have I noirlected to examine 

 every thingon this insect that has lallen under my 

 notice, and shall hereafter allude lo some of the 

 contradictory siatemenis that have been published 

 relative to certain parts of its economy. 



The head and thorax oft his fly are black. The 

 hind body is lawny, and covered with fine grayish 

 hairs. The wings are blackish, but are more or 

 less tinged with yellow at the base, where also 

 they are very narrow ; they are hinged with short 

 hairs, and are rounded at the end. The body- 

 measures about one-tenth ofan inch in length, and 

 the wings expand one quarter ofan inch, or more. 

 It is a true Cecidomyia, diffiering from Lasiopterq. 

 in the Ghortness of the first joint of its feet, and in 

 the greater length of its aniennse, the bead-like 

 swellings whereo/'are also more distant from each 

 other. Two broods or generaiions are brought to 

 maturity in the course of a year, and the flieli ap- 

 pear in the spring and autumn, but rather earlier 

 in the southern and middle states than in New 

 England. The transformations of some in each 

 brood appear to be retarded beyond the usual time, 

 as is found to be the case with many other insects ; 

 so that the lile of incse individuals, from the egg to 

 the winged state, extends to a year or more" in 

 length, whereby the continuation of the species in 

 alier years is made more sure. It has frequently 

 been asserted that the flies lay their eggs on the 

 grain in the ear ; but whether this be true or not, 

 It is certain that they do lay their eggs on the 

 young plants, and long before the grain is ripe ; 

 lor many persons have witnessed and testified to 

 this fact. In the New England states, winter 

 wheat, as it is called, is usually sown about the 

 first of September. Towards the end of this 

 month, and in October, when the grain has 

 sprouted, and begins to show a leaf or two, the 

 flies appear in the fields, and, having paired, be- 

 gin to lay their eggs, in which business they are 

 occupied /or several weeks. The following inte- 

 resting account of the manner in which this 

 IS done was written by Mr. Edward Tilghman, of 

 Queen Ann county, Maryland, and was published 

 in the eighth volume of the Cultivator, m May, 

 1841. " By the second week of October, the 

 first sown wheat being well up, and having gene- 

 rally put forth its second and third blades, I re- 

 sorted lo my field in a fine warm forenoon, (o en- 

 deavor to satisfy myself by ocular demonstration, 

 whether the fly did deposiie the egg on the blades 

 of the growing plant. Selecting a favorable spot 

 to make my observation, I placed myself in a re- 



