No. 4. 1, anchor- 

 process of larva of C. 

 destructor ; 2, of C. 

 tritici (magnified). 



As I am not aware that this anchor-process of the 

 larva of the Cecidomyia destructor has as yet been pre- 

 cisely figured, I give a magnified sketch from my own 

 British specimens. The anchor-process is a short stem 

 fixed at one end to the larva, and free at the other ; the 

 free end, which points forward, is 

 considerably enlarged, and is of 

 various form. In the " red maggot " 

 of our own British Wheat Midge it is 

 notched, as at fig. 2, No. 4, but in 

 the anchor-process of the Hessian 

 Fly the shape is more elaborate. 

 The stem is slightly enlarged at the 

 middle, and the extremity furnished 

 with two conical prolongations, form- 

 ing together a strong fork. When 

 seen sideways the process looks more slender, and has 

 a curved figure making a gentle arch from the insertion 

 to the forked tip. 



The use of this appendage does not appear as yet to 

 be fully known, but from my own observations I con- 

 jecture that it is used as a digger or scraper, and it may 

 be that the reason why strong-stemmed wheat, or stems 

 containing more silica, are not so much injured by 

 attack as other kinds, is, that the fork is not strong 

 enough in these instances to assist the excessively deli- 

 cate mouth-parts to acquire their food from the stem. 

 The formation of the skin of the maggot is very 

 peculiar, and, as seen under a J-inch power, 

 resembles nothing so much as a nutmeg- 

 grater. It is covered with most minute 

 tubercles, each about the height of its own 

 width, and each with a depression or orifice 

 in centre. The two figs, at No. 5 give a 

 view sideways and from above of these 

 tubercles, from the dried skin of a larva 

 taken from the puparium with the anchor- 

 process attached. 

 About the beginning of October, on again examining 



M 



No. 5._Skin 

 of larva, 

 magnified. 



