THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



61 



Torm pomewhfit reeomblinor a silk-worm. From 

 one 10 six of lliese Imve been l()iin(l at vniious 

 heii;;lits, li-oin the seed lo tiie liiird joint. They 

 would seem lo enter the pupa state about the 

 beginning of June. 



"Tiiis fly was not observed by JNliss Alorris to 

 inhabit any other plant than wlieat. 



"To prevent the ravages o)' this destroyer of 

 the grain, it will be proper lo obtain fresh si'ed 

 from localities in which the fly has not niaih; its 

 appearance'. By this means the cro[) of the fol- 

 lowing year will be uninjured ; but in order to 

 avoid the introduction o( straggling insects of the 

 kind li^om adjacent fields, it is requisiie that a 

 whole neighborhood should persevere in this pre- 

 caution for two or more years in succession. This 

 result was obtained, in part, in the course of trials 

 made by Mr. KirU, of Bucks County, Pa, with 

 some seed-wheat from the JNlediteirani'an, in and 

 since the year 1837. His first crop was free from 

 tlie fly, but it was gradually introduced from adja- 

 cent fields ; and in the present year the mischief 

 has been considerable. As Miss Morris states 

 ihat the fly has never mode its appearance in 

 Susquehanna and Bradford counties, seed-wheat 

 free from the fly, might be obtained li-om these 

 and probably from other localities. 



"The committee recommend that the conclu- 

 sions of Miss JNlorris 'maybe subjected to the 

 only eflicient lest — repeated observations and 

 eHeclive trials of the precaution she advises.' " 



Believing the above to be an observation of 

 very considerable importance, and sincerely hoping 

 that repeated trials and examinations may confirm 

 its correctness, we have prepared the present 

 notice (or the Cabinet, in order to bring it before 

 the agricultural community. 



Miss Morris's observations and inferences agree 

 very well with what we know of the habits of 

 many insects. Thus they are. as a genera! rule, 

 not produced till their Ibod is ready for them ; 

 while their eggs appear to approach the seeds of 

 plants in the power of enduring long delay and 

 Bome violence, before they lose their vitality and 

 faculty of developement. The eggs of silk-worms 

 are kept for various periods, and still retain the 

 Busceptibility of being hatched. How long this 

 power, in some insects, may be capable of endur- 

 ing, has not been ascertained ; but the presump- 

 tion arising from their analogy to seeds leaves it 

 by no means certain, (until observations are 

 made,) that the period may not be one of magni- 

 tude. 'J'he lower animals are said by naturalists 

 to approach, in constitution, much more nearly to 

 vegetables than to the more complex beings of 

 their own class ; and this is acknowledged to be 

 strikingly exemplified in the instance we have 

 been reciting. Something analogous may be per- 

 ceived in the instance of the common fowl; in 

 which species, the eggs first laid are allowed to 

 remain till enough are accumulated for the parent 

 to commence setting, and without, in any way in- 

 juring the product. 



That highly and justly distinguished American 

 naturalist, the late Thomas Say, has left us an 

 entomological description of the Hessian fly, in 

 the first volume of the Journal of the Philadelphia 

 Academy of Natural Sciences. He appears never 

 to have identified the insect in an earlier portion 

 of its life than the flax-seed state. Thus, he de- 

 scribes the larva, first state or " maggot" of the 



animal, as resembling the ;)wpn or second state, 

 except in the dark, reddish-brown color of the 

 latter ; and alleges that, " when taken from the 

 culm, it is almost inert, exhibitinijr very little 

 motion to the eye." The was in 1817; and as 

 that eminent writer was principally occupied in 

 the task, then new, of describing and classilying 

 American insects in their perlect Ibrnis, it is 

 entirely credible that ho nunhi have erred in rela- 

 tion to their earlier stages; nor is it wonderful 

 that, in 23 years, further discoveries should be 

 made, and his account corrected. What Mr. Say 

 calls the larva, will, if Miss Morris be correct, be 

 considered the early period of the pupa. 



The discovery of Miss Morris, then, appears 

 principally to resolve itself into the fiict of the egg 

 being deposited in the seed ; and into the history 

 of the pale green worm or larva, as the primary 

 stage of the animal's existence. The account of 

 its periodical change g ven by Mr. Say is con- 

 fessedly conjectural ; and insufficiently explains 

 the preservation of"ihe species through the winter. 

 His words are, "The history of the changes of 

 ihis insect is probably briefly this." He then 

 proceeds lo describe the parent insect in deposit- 

 ing its eggs within the sheath of the leaves, near 

 the root of the plant, the fixed mode of life of the 

 flax-seed substance, together with the indentations 

 produced in the straw, the distortion of the flax- 

 seed worm when crowded, and the death of the 

 plant. He then adds the l(:)llowing notice, which 

 ends the recital. "The perlect fly appears early 

 in June, lives but a short time, deposits its eggs, 

 and dies — the insects from these etjcs complete 

 the history by preparing lor the winter brood." 

 The words would seem to imply that there are 

 tico broods of these flies; one for summer and 

 one for winter. If "preparing for the winter 

 brood," means laying the eggs which are lo pro- 

 duce them, why are not the flies seen in the end 

 of October ; before which time the shealhs of the 

 leaves and the straw itself of the winter wheat do 

 not exist, and at which period no fly of any de- 

 scription is lobe met with in the fields'? Ff, on 

 the other hand, " the insects from the eggs laid in 

 June," are themselves " the winter brood," they 

 are to be found in the stubble after harvest ; and 

 cannot possibly be the same individuals that are 

 found next spring in the damaged stalks of the 

 new crop. 



According to the facts believed to be ascertain- 

 ed by Miss Morris, the difliculty at once disap- 

 pears. The fly lives only ten days ; during which 

 'ime it depositee its eggs. The eggs remain un- 

 altered till ihe wheat sprculs; and the young 

 worm is then below the surffice of the earth, in a 

 substance which is not frozen, and which sup- 

 plies him with food. 



The residence of the worm, as described by 

 Miss Morris, within the hollow of the straw, is 

 precisely like that of certain other insects. The 

 animal that destroys the more luxuriant shoots of 

 the parsley-leaved elder, and which, in its perfect 

 state, becomes, as we are informed, a beetle of 

 splendid coloring, passes its larva-existence within 

 the pith of the plant. Additional examples, we 

 believe, are not difficult to be obtained. 



To the directions given in the " proceedings" 

 for avoiding the production of this pernicious 

 insect, little seems necessary to be added. We 

 are inclined, however, earnestly lo repeat the 



