THE WHEAT MIDGE. 101 



(See Art. 162.) Yes; then sow late ; prepare your seed with 

 steeps, choose earliest varieties, and have your land in good 

 order. Watch the progress of the midge, but do not depend 

 upon that ; plough as soon after harvest as possible, and let 

 that field remain untouched, except by the roller, until after har- 

 vest the succeeding year. Whatever invaders may have appeared 

 unobs'erved, (and millions will have so done, sooner or later,) will 

 be buried beyond their powers of restoring themselves to light 

 and air. 



ITS PARASITES. 



164. These are not well known in this country. Several have 

 been recognized in Europe, and described by distinguished ento- 

 mologists. One American species, found by Dr. Fitch, is a 

 hymenopter of the family Chalcididse. It is probable that the 

 wheat midge, like the Hessian fly, has several parasites, which 

 increase with it until they finally overcome it, and for a time ar- 

 rest the destructive ravages of this terrible devastator. 



165. In Europe, nature herself has provided a considerable 

 check to the multiplication of these flies, by making them the 

 prey of no fewer than three kinds of ichneumons, viz : Encyrtus 

 inserens, about half the length of the wheat fly ; another, Pla- 

 tigaster tipulce, which commits its eggs to the larvae of the 

 wheat fly ; and the third, Eurytoma penetrans. Some of these 

 ichneumons appear in great numbers where the fly abounds, and 

 multitudes must become their victims. Quarterly Journal of 

 Agriculture, vol. 12. 



A very full description of these ichneumons, taken from Mr. 

 Curtis' celebrated works and papers, is given in the February 

 (1857) number of the "Canadian Naturalist and Geologist," by 

 E. Billings, Montreal. 



166. Many birds prey upon the maggots. Mr. Elmer Rowell, 



