CEPHUS PYGM(EUS. 167 



however, not a stranger to certain ingenious 

 foreigners, who have noticed its ravages in the 

 rye-fields of France, and have pubUshed ac- 

 counts of it in the scientific annals of their 

 country. The fly itself is about half an inch 

 long, and black, with four transparent and 

 iridiscent wings ; the legs are yellow, striped 

 with black. Many of them may be frequently 

 observed on flowers, in corn-fields, during June, 

 and on grasses, in woods ; but a casual glance at 

 them gives no indication of their mischievous 

 habits. The female lays her eggs just below 

 the ear, in the straw of the corn-plant, and the 

 larvae travel from the top to the bottom, eating 

 as they go, and working through the knots 

 with perfect ease, until the time of the ripen- 

 ing of the harvest, when they eat through the 

 stem near the ground, and pass into the chry- 

 salis state. France has, at times, suffered 

 extremely by the attacks of this singular in- 

 sect, whose habits have hitherto been little 

 known and less suspected by those whom they 

 much concern in this country. Persons have 

 now been led, by the hght thrown on the sub-, 

 ject through the papers of Mr. Curtis, to 

 search for it ; and an interesting communication 

 appeared respectuig it in the " Gardeners' 



