GOUT FLY ; RIBBON-FOOTED CORN FLY. 7 



" Gout " in Barley is now so thoroughly established as one of the 

 attacks which recur regularly to a greater or less extent every year, 

 that it would not be worth while to notice it again save just to record 

 some peculiarities of the infestation in coincidence with the peculiarly 

 dry season of 1893. 



The first observation of the attack was at an unusually early date ; 

 and afterwards, during the summer, an xmusually large proportion of 

 the injured Barley was struck at such an early stage of growth that it 

 failed to grow beyond the condition figured at p. 8. With regard to 

 times of first appearance. Some of the earliest dates of this, of which 

 I have had reports in previous years, were on July 9th, in 1891 ; on 

 July 6th, 1889 ; and in the hot summer of 1887, ou July 3rd. In the 

 past suiumer of 1893, the first note of observation of which I am aware 

 was on the 16th of June. 



So far as has been shown by the reports sent me in previous 

 seasons, ChJorops injury is a trouble of which the amount may certainly 

 be influenced by date of sowing, and last year's observations have con- 

 firmed those previously given, that a good state of ground helps to 

 carry infested crop over attack ; and have also shown that the amount 

 of damage may be much increased by drought and heat, which act 

 above ground by the air being unfavourable for growth, and below 

 ground by preventing the plant nourishment at the surface of the soil 

 being available to the extent needed. 



When under unfavourable circumstances the young Barley is 

 attacked whilst the ear is still only slightly developed within the 

 sheathing -leaves, the effect is most disastrous. The growth of the ear 

 is ruined, and the Barley stalk, instead of running on into straw, is 

 stopped short at a length that may be measured by inches, rather than 

 by feet, with the sheathing-leaves in a swelled and deformed condition, 

 of which the first figure (p. 8), taken from life by myself (see my 

 Thirteenth Report, p. 23), gives a fair idea. 



Last season, judging by the specimens sent to myself, there was a 

 very marked presence, at least early in the summer, of this form of 

 attack ; and judging also by the observations made in the government 

 leaflet on <Jhlorup>i tccniupus (the Ribbon-footed Corn Fly), published 

 August, 1893, this pecuhar form of injury was that which was manily 

 sent to the Board of Agriculture, as scarcely any notice is taken of 

 what, in most years, is the most observable form of damage, in which 

 the straw reaches a length moderately useful for farm purposes, 

 and the ear, though injured, still produces enough good corn to make 

 some amount of return. 



The second figure (p. 8) of diseased growth shows a specimen of this 

 most commonly observed form of injury, in which, notwithstanding the 

 channel worked-out by the Gout Fly maggot down one side of the stalk as 



