REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 1901 (15 
becoming in a few hours irregularly spotted with deeper red. 
Between its exclusion and its hatching these red spots are con- 
tinually changing in number, size and position and sometimes 
nearly all disappear. A little while before hatching two lateral 
rows of opaque white spots, about 10 in number, can be seen in 
each egg. 
The flies may occur any time after the wheat is up and before 
killing frosts, and possibly, as pointed out by Dr S. A. Forbes, 
between killing frosts. The eggs hatch in about four days and 
the maggots or larvae then make their way down the leaf to the 
base of the sheath. These soft maggots do not burrow, but lie 
between the sheath and the stem and absorb their nourishment 
from the adjacent soft tissues, which gradually become depressed 
and give way as the little insect develops. The maggots are 
usually found in the fall close to the roots of winter wheat and 
at or beneath the surface of the soil, while the spring larvae are 
more common about the second or third joint of the plants. The 
larval transformations occupy about 20 days but their duration 
is considerably affected by weather conditions. The duration of 
the pupal stage is very variable and is much affected by climatic 
conditions. Cold or heat and dryness tend to lengthen and heat 
and moisture to shorten the duration of the different stages, 
specially the pupal. The winter is passed by this insect in the 
“flaxseed ” or pupal stage. The spring brood of flies emerge in 
April or May and in turn lay eggs on the more luxuriant leaves 
and another life cycle may be completed in about 30 days. 
Number of generations. The short time necessary to complete 
the life cycle permits a number of broods in one season and 
apparently there are aS many generations as weather and food 
conditions will permit, and we may expect constant breeding of 
this insect during the growing season if continued damp weather 
enables wheat, barley and rye to grow luxuriantly throughout 
that period. During midsummer as a rule the fly, if it appears 
at all, will find only a little volunteer wheat in fit condition for 
it to live on, but this was very different with barley in 1901. The 
spring brood had passed through its transformations and the 
continued moist weather brought out the flies in hosts. Eggs 
were laid in large numbers in the barley, specially in that which 
