248 QUARTERLY JOURNAL. 



also early in March, in a field in which wheat was grown the pre- 

 ceding year, that had been somewhat injured by the fly. Another 

 portion of these larvae remain in the heads of the wheat, and are 

 carried into the barn, where they may readily be observed upon the 

 threshing-floor, and found in quantities among the screenings of the 

 fanning-mill, a considerable portion of which sometimes consists of 

 these worms. Thence our farmers kindly empty them out at the 

 door of the barn, where most of them doubtless find among the 

 litter of the yard a bed equally as comfortable and secure as that 

 in which their brethren in the field are at this lime reposing. 



Whence does this singular diversity in the habits of these larvae 

 arise ? Why do one part of them leave the wheat, and enter the 

 ground ere the harvest ; and another portion remain within the ears, 

 to be carried into the barn when the grain is housed ? for all the 

 worms are undoubtedly fully matured before the grain becomes ripe 

 and hard. Two well attested observations I think shed much light 

 upon this subject ; and if the inference that they have led me to be 

 correct, this point will be regarded as one of the most interesting 

 that occurs in the economy of this insect. Mr. Harris informs us, 

 that " after a shower of rain, they (the larvae) have been seen in 

 such countless numbers on the beards of the ivheat, as to give a 

 yellow color to the lohole field ;''^ and he refers to the New-England 

 Farmer, vol. xii. p. 60, in confirmation of this statement, a volume 

 which I have not at hand. For an analogous but still more instructive 

 fact, I am indebted to Gen. M'Naughton, a practical farmer of this 

 town, the accuracy of whose stjitements no one acquainted with him 

 will doubt. In 1832, his wheat, in which the fly had made sad havoc, 

 was cradled and lying in the swath, when a moderate rain came on, 

 followed by a damp cloudy afternoon. At this time, with his hired 

 help, he repaired to the harvest-field to bind up the grain. They 

 here found not only the heads, but also the straiv in its entire length 

 sprinkled over with these worms. On my observing to him, that I 

 could scarcely believe it possible for a footless worm to crawl along 

 the straw when it was lying horizontally, he stated that he was 

 particularly positive with regard to that fact ; for he distinctly re- 

 collected that it was impossible for him to draw the band around a 

 bundle and tie it (in which process the heads of the grain are not 

 touched), without having at least a half dozen of these worms 

 adhering to his hands. 



