76 AN ACCOUNT OF BRITISH FLIES. 
hairs ; abdomen dark brown, with thin, flesh-coloured incisions and 
white hair. Posterior half of seventh ring, and the rest of the 
abdomen, flesh coloured; ¢ genitalia black; 9? yellow. Wings 
large, gray, with thick biackish-gray hairs, third longitudinal vein 
bending in an almost straight angle to the posterior edge; 
1 to r4 lin. 
D. tritici, Kirby.—“ The Wheat Midge.” 
This is a very interesting species, on account of its being so it- 
jurious to wheat, etc., and therefore we deal at greater length with 
this than with most species. 
The eggs are transparent, cylindrical, rounded at both ends, four 
times as long as broad ; they are laid in little heaps of six to thirty in 
the inner bloom of the wheat, close to the embryo grain. 
The /arve hatch in eight or ten days, first transparent, then yellow, 
changing to orange. Composed of 14 joints, the last cut out and 
curved, with four little teeth. When it wishes to push itself forward, 
_ it first curves itself round and holds on to some firm support. It 
feeds on the germs and flowers of the wheat, and seems to possess 
the power of jumping to the ground, where it buries itself from one 
to five inches deep for about fourteen days, after which it changes to 
a pupa. Before burying itself, the larva sheds its skin and appears 
covered with fine-pointed hairs. 
Pupa.—-Reddish-yellow, and apparently enclosed in a filmy trans- 
parent case. ‘Two bristles on the forehead. 
Imago.—Citron yellow, with downy hairs ; antennz blackish; eyes 
black ; legs pale yellow ; wings covered with strong hairs ; antenne 
of 2 2 length of body, 13-jointed, hairy; those of ¢ 14 times 
length of body, 25-jointed; thorax of ? gray ; abdomen has brown 
edges ; ovipositor can be extended to twice the length of the body, 
and is as thin as a hair; wingsof ¢ twice as long as abdomen. 
Length of 2 1°5 to 1'6 mm.; of ¢ o’9 to 1 mm. 
The “ Wheat Midge” comes out in June and July, and has been 
seen in England as late as the 17th August. The 9? seems to fly 
about amongst the wheat stalks during the day, to begin laying eggs 
an hour or two before darkness begins, and to continue laying 
throughout the night. These “‘Midges” are also found in grass 
along hedge sides and in clover.* 
There are probably two broods or more in one season. It attacks 
wheat and rye, and according to Wagner, barley and oats also. Some 
think that on first emerging it lays eggs on couch grass, and perhaps 
* Manual of Inj. Insects, p. 90,—E. A. Ormerod. 
