714 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
young plants in wheat fields, it is very likely to be this notorious 
pest. 
The puparium or “ flaxseed ” stage is so well known that a 
| description is hardly necessary. . The “ flaxseeds ” are about 4 
inch long, of light brown color and occur near the base of the 
plants. One very much enlarged is represented at f in fig. 1. 
The slender, delicate, greenish white maggots are also some- 
what familiar to the wheat grower and a detailed description of 
them in this connection is hardly necessary. The full grown 
larva is about 4 inch long and it is usually found in the field 
between the sheath and the stem of the young plants. 
The eggs have been sufficiently characterized in a following 
paragraph treating of their deposition. ; 
Food plants. The food plants of the Hessian fly are of con- 
siderable importance because if it is able to subsist on a num- 
ber of grasses and grains its control is manifestly much more 
difficult. The Hessian fly was early recognized as a pest of 
wheat, rye and barley, and despite the fact that records are 
occasionally met with of its occurrence in timothy and other 
grasses and grains, the weight of evidence seems to indicate that 
it does not live to any extent at least on anything but the above 
crops. It is possible that at exceedingly rare intervals, com- 
paratively speaking, a few may mature on timothy, but in some 
instances at least related species have been confounded with it. 
Life history. Normally there are two generations in this latitude 
though there may be several supplementary ones. The adult fly 
may deposit from 100 to 150 eggs, according to Marchal, placing 
them between the ridges on the upper surface of the blades of 
young wheat. Individuals of the spring brood occasionally 
thrust their eggs beneath the sheaths of the lower leaves. The 
process of oviposition has been carefully described by Mr Her- 
rick as follows: | 
While depositing her eggs the insect stands with her head 
toward the point or extremity of the leaf, and at various distances 
between the point where the leaf joins and surrounds the stalk. 
The number found on a single leaf varies from a single egg up 
to 30 or even more. The egg is about »; inch long, cylindric, 
rounded at the ends, glossy and translucent, of a pale red color, 
