768 EEPOKT— 1887. 



(Calopterms sprefus, Thomas), the cotton worm (Aletta .rt/lina, Say), and the 

 Chinch bug {BHssus leucopterits. Say) take precedence of it as noxious insects. 

 The first serious attack in the United States happened a century ago (178t)-80), 

 and in 1788 the importation of American grain into Britain was prohibited until 

 it was ascertained that the ' flaxseed ' pupa-case travels in the straw rather than 

 in the grain. The first authentic record of its occurrence in Europe was made in 

 1834 by J. Dana, who found it at Mahon, Toulon, and Naples. It is now known 

 to exist in the south of France, and in Germany, Austria, and Hungary. Mots- 

 chulsky noticed it in Russia in 1836; Lindemann again detected it there in 1879, 

 and has since determined its presence over an area several times the size of Great 

 Britain. It causes severe losses in southern and mid Russia. 



The nature of the injury occasioned by the fly is described and illustrated with 

 the aid of specimens and diagrams. The Third Report of the United States 

 Entomological Commission (AVashington, 1883) records disastrous losses. The 

 fly has ' swept whole fields,' occasioned ' almost a total failure of tlie crops,' and 

 has 'committed such ravages upon the wheat as scarcely to leave enough seed for 

 another year.' In 1846 half a million bushels of wheat were estimated to have 

 been destroyed in the western section of New York State ; in 1886 the loss in this 

 State was put at 20,000^. 



The theory that the fly was introduced into the United States by Hessian 

 troops during "the AVar of Independence is regarded as untenable. Packard, dis- 

 cussing Wagner's results, concludes that the Hessian fly had appeared in tbe 

 Eastern States before the Revolutionary War, that it has never been known to 

 inhabit England or northern Europe, that it was not known even in Germany 

 before 1857, that it has ' from time immemorial ' been an inhabitant of wheat-fields 

 on the Mediterranean coasts, that it most likely originated in this region, or 

 farther east (in the probable original habitat of wheat and other cereals), and that 

 it was introduced thence into the United States before the war. llow it reached 

 Britain is not known, but it probably came as 'flaxseeds' in straw used for 

 packing or for litter. 



Wheat, barley, and rye are the cereals attacked ; oats appear to escape. The 

 * flaxseeds ' or puparia have also been found upon timothy grass (Phleum pratense, 

 L.), but there is no evidence of any other grass being attacked. 



American observations indicate that the fly flourishes best in warm, moist 

 seasons, so that the hot, droughty character of the recent summer can hardly have 

 specially favoured it : in fact, it seems to have made headway under rather adverse 

 conditions, and with one of our usual moist summers the attack would probably 

 have been more severe. Many precautions have been suggested for the use of 

 ao-riculturists with the object of minimising the attacks in future years. 



Several species of Ilymenoptera are parasitic upon the Hessian fly. Specially 

 useful in this way are Semiotcllus desh-ucfor, Say, one of the Chalcididce, which 

 deposits its eggs in the pupa of the Hessian fly, and FUdijgasfer error, Fitch, 

 which places its eggs within those of the fly. These minute parasites have done 

 splendid service in the American wheat and barley fields, where they are as active 

 friends to the corn-grower as are the aphis-eating lady-birds in this country to the 

 hop-grower. It has been suggested that if the parasites have not accompanied 

 the fly to Britain they should be colonised here. On August 11, however, from a 

 'flaxseed' in the possession of the author there emerged a chalcis fiy, and other 

 observers have confirmed the presence in this country of insect parasites of this 

 much-dreaded crop scourge. 



9. Nole 011 tie Hectocofi/Iisafioii of the Cephalopoda. 

 Bij William E. Hoyle. 



A female specimen of Rossia Oxceni, received from the Granton Marine Station, 

 had a number of sperm atophorea attached under the left eye. 



These were small tadpole-shaped bodies, about 5 mm. in length. The head was 

 entirely embedded below the skin of the animal, the slender tails producing the 

 appearance of a bunch of hairs on the exterior. The apex of the head contains a 



