WHEAT INSECTS 115 



The wheat midge ^ {Contarinia tritici) 

 Order — Diptera 



An old European pest closely allied to the Hessian 

 fly; the adult is bright orange colored and about 

 one-third the size of a mosquito; the flies lay eggs 

 in June between the chaff of wheat heads; eggs 

 hatch in about a week, and the reddish-yellow mag- 

 g-ots extract the juices from the kernels causing the 

 latter to become much shrunken and worthless 

 either for seed or for flour; these ''red-weevils" or 

 maggots become full-grown in 3 or 4 weeks and 

 some leave the heads, usually during a rain storm ; 

 these go^ into the ground and remain in cocoons 

 until spring ; others remain in wheat heads and are 

 carried into the thresher and come out in the screen- 

 ings ; they remain in the chaff in a dried-up condi- 

 tion until spring; now occurs in nearly all the states 

 east of the Mississippi; shrivelled kernels will not 

 grow good strong plants, nor make good flour, 

 hence such had better be fed out; no varieties are 

 exempt, but beardless varieties suffer more injury 

 than the bearded. 



Control — Burn or feed out screenings; after 

 harvesting, deeply plow under the stubble; rotate 

 the wheat to some distant field; early sown wheat 

 may escape with less injury by the midge, but is 

 more liable to the attack of the Hessian fly. 



The chinch-bug ^ ('Blissiis leiicopferns) 

 Order — Hemiptera 



Not often injurious in the East; has been injuri- 

 ous over small areas in New York several times; 

 two broods of the insect a year; winters in the stools 

 of grasses in the adult stage. 



Control — Western methods of fighting the in- 



2 Marlatt— U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' Bull. 13^. 



3 Marlatt— U. S. Dept. Agr., Ear's' Bull. 132. 



