44 REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I92I 



F. R. Perry of Genesee county, special field assistant of the 

 department of entomology, Cornell University, reported July 19, 

 1919 that wheat midge was found extensively in winter wheat and 

 also a small amount in spring wheat. These conditions also obtained 

 in at least parts of Niagara and Erie counties and to a less-marked 

 degree for rye in the eastern portion of the State. Many fields in 

 western New York had from 80 to 99 per cent of the heads infested 

 and the sunken grain varied from an average of about 4 

 to as high as nearly 33 per cent, the latter being unusual. In one 

 case 86 maggots were found in a head of rye and as each maggot 

 usually means a shrunken or blasted grain, such an infestation if 

 at all general is decidedly serious. A close analysis of 143 samples, 

 many collected by Prof, C. R. Crosby, from all parts of the impor- 

 tant wheat areas in western New York showed that in 1919 there 

 were nearly one-tenth as many maggots as grains of wheat and 

 that II per cent of the total yield was composed of shrunken, com- 

 paratively worthless kernels. There was no evidence of general 

 prevalence of either wheat scab or loose smut, consequently such 

 reduction in the crop as noted above must have been due largely to 

 wheat midge. 



A general summary of wheat midge conditions in the important 

 wheat areas of New York State is given below. 



