240 QUARTERLY JOURNAL, 



injurious insects briefly notices this species {Trans. N. Y. State 

 Agric. Society, 1843, vol. iii. p. 145- 147.) 



With the prominent facts that have been laid before the public 

 by our agricultural periodicals, every intelligent farmer is already 

 familiar. The great difficulty experienced by persons but little con- 

 versant with zoological science, in determining v^rhat this wheat- 

 worm really was, forms a striking feature in the earlier notices that 

 appeared respecting it. Thus, by some it was for a time regarded 

 as an animalcule of the vibrio genus, analogous to the " eels" gene- 

 rated in vinegar and paste. By others, and quite extensively, it was 

 pronounced to be a weevil, and this very improper name is to this 

 day often applied to it. Others, still, deemed it to be " Monsieur 

 Tonson come again," considering it as a return of the hessian-Jly 

 to a section of the country from which it had long been absent. It 

 would be easy to point out how erroneous each of these opinions 

 are ; but I deem it wholly unnecessary, as the public mind is now 

 no longer distracted upon this subject ; and the correct view, that 

 this insect is a fly, peculiar in its habits, and diflfering from any of 

 those previously known in this country, universally prevails. 



It is not improbable but that one or both of the species of the 

 wheat-fly may have been present in this country, in limited numbers, 

 many years before it was distinctly noticed. In truth, common as 

 this insect still is in this district, if our farmers, guided by the 

 knowledge they have acquired of it, were not zealously searching 

 for it in every field, I much doubt whether it would be at all ob- 

 served here at the present day. And often too when a careful 

 examination of the growing gr^in leads to a belief that the crop is 

 scarcely infested, an inspection of the threshing-floor, or of the 

 screenings of the fanning-mill, will frequently demonstrate that it 

 was present in much greater abundance than was surmised. These 

 facts plainly show, that this insect might lurk a long time in our 

 country wholly unobserved. 



Mr. Jewett says the wheat-fly first appeared in western Ver- 

 mont in the year 1820 {New-Eng. Farmer, vol. xix. p. 301). It 

 was not, however, till the years 1828 and 1829 that it became so 

 numerous as to attract the attention of community ; the same years, 

 be it observed, when its ravages were so annoying in Scotland. It 

 was in the northern part of Vermont, bordering upon the line of 

 Lower Canada, where it became so excessively multiplied at this 



