INJURIOUS INSECTS. 239 



observations of Mr. Kirby, reaching now over half a century, could 

 probably shed some light upon this most interesting topic. 



As respects the extent of its range abroad, it has been noticed in 

 most of the southern and eastern counties of England, from Corn- 

 wal to Norfolk, and also in Shropshire ; in Perthshire and the Lo- 

 ihians, and probably in other districts of Scotland ; and in the north 

 of Ireland. Whether it occurs upon the continent of Europe, we 

 are not positivel}' informed. It is not noticed by Macquart, either 

 in his Diptera of the North of France, or his Natural History of 

 Dipterous Insects ( for a perusal of which I am indebted to the 

 courtesy of Dr. T. W. Harris of Harvard University) ; and we can 

 scarcely believe that if it existed in his district, it could have been 

 overlooked by so assiduous a naturalist. M. Herpin, however (as 

 we are told by Mr. Curtis), is of opinion that it is an inhabitant of 

 Trance, and the statement which he makes strongly supports this 

 opinion. He says, "I have also found in cars of corn, at the time 

 of flowering, many little yellow larvae, very lively, from two to three 

 millimetres long, lodged between the chaff of the grain : these larv® 

 nibble and destroy the generative organs of the plant, and the 

 gcrmen where they are found are sterile. These larvas appear to me 

 to have a very great analogy with those which have been described 

 in the Linnsean Transactions, under the name of Tipula triLici : it 

 is probably a Cecidomyia.^^ M. Herpin placed several ears of dis- 

 eased barley and wheat in bottles, and in these bottles a number of 

 cecidomyia flies were afterwards found. Meigen — a copy of whose 

 noted work upon the Diptera of Europe I regret that I have been 

 unable to meet with — as I learn from Mr. Curtis's paper, gives 

 descriptions and figures of the wheat-fly. Were his specimens col- 

 lected in Germany, or received from England ? 



Its domestic history. 

 It will be unnecessary to particularly specify the various notices 

 of this insect, that have appeared in the different agricultural papers 

 of the Northern States during the last twelve years. The more im- 

 portant and valuable of these may be found in the several volumes 

 of the Cultivator and of the New-England Farmer. An excellent 

 summary of the history and habits of the wheat-fly, both in this 

 country and abroad, is also given in Dr. Harris's Report on the 

 Insects of Massachusetts, p. 437 - 444. Mr. Gaylord's paper on 



