4 Insects Jvjvrious to Vegefaticn. [Jan., 



the worm imbibes its nourishment from the stalk. To expose it 

 to view, we are obliged to place it in circumstances so unnatural 

 to it, that it apparently refrains from feeding. That it " gnaws" 

 the stalk, as some writers in our agricultural papers, and some 

 compilers of popular treatises infoim their readers, is an error so 

 gross as scarcely to deserve notice. vSome have supposed that it 

 absorbs its nourishment through the pores of its skin; but we in- 

 cline to the belief that Dr. Lee's opinion is nearest the truth of 

 any that has been hitherto advanced — that it takes in its nourish- 

 ment by suction, in a manner more analagous to the leech than 

 any other familiar object. [Gen. Farmer, vii. 225.) 



Its effects upon the crop. The autumnal attack of the fly is in 

 a double sense a radical one. Each particular shoot at whose 

 root one or more of these larva; nestles, is commonly destroyed 

 by the time the worm has attained its growth. The presence of 

 these worms is therefore readily detected by an examination of 

 the young wheat in October or November. Individual shoots will 

 be found here and there in the held, withered and changed to a 

 light yellow color, (tig. Af.) strongly contrasting with the rich 

 green of the vigorous uninjured plants, (fig. A*.) The frost or 

 some other casualty may cause the ends of some of the other leaves 

 to be of a pale yellow color, but here the whole plant is of that 

 hue; and where afield is badly infested this yellow "sickly" aspect 

 is perceptible from a distance. On examining the withered plants, 

 the worm, or flax seed if it has advanced to that stage, can be 

 readily found. It is situated a short distance below the surface of 

 the earth, at the crown of the root (fig. A§). One or two radical 

 leaves start from this point, their bases forming a cylindrical sheath 

 around the central or main shoot, which as yet is but in its infancy. 

 It is within this sheath, at its base, that the worms repose, one, 

 two, three, or more, and by imbibing the nutiicious juices of the 

 young shoot, cause it to wither and die. The mechanical pres- 

 sure of the larva% so frequently spoken of as impeding the circu- 

 lation of the fluids of the plant, and hereby causing it to perish, 

 ] think has had too much importance assigned to it, the young 

 plants being so sott and pliant that they wou'd readily accommo- 

 date themselves to this pressure, if they received no molestation 

 beyond this. 



Is the crop ever henejitted hy it? The vigor and luxuiiance of 

 the uninjured shoots from the same root, contrasts so strongly with 

 the wilted and feeble ap])earance of those attacked by the worm, 

 as to have led some to believe that the unafl'ected shoots were 

 stimulated to a more rapid and robust growth in consequence of 

 the pruning given by the fly; and that a better crop is thus some- 

 times produced, by the presence of a moderate number of these 

 worms among the wheat plants. The correctness of this opinion 



