40 



CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECTS. 



tered, frayed appearance, resulting from the seed being torn from 

 the outer glumes (fig. 20, a), while those seed injured by the midge 

 have a dark, flattened appearance (fig. 20, b), and minute pink and 

 white larvae can be seen, sometimes as many as six of them, lying 

 close alongside the ovary. These are the larvae of the sorghum 

 midge. 



HISTORY OF THE SORGHUM MIDGE IN AMERICA. 



The earliest reference to the sorghum midge occurs in 1895 in a report 

 by Mr. D. W. Coquillett, of the Bureau of Entomology, United 



Fig. 20.— a, Sorghum head partly destroyed by English sparrows; b, sorghum head in- 

 fested by the sorghum midge (Contarinia sorghicola), showing characteristic flattened 

 appearance of spikelet; c, sorghum head with matured healthy seed. (Original.) 



States Department of Agriculture, in which he described the appear- 

 ance of several heads of sweet sorghum received from Dillburg and 

 Montgomery, Ala. These heads contained a large number of seed 

 which had failed to mature and which had apparently been destroyed 

 by the larvas of some species of Cecidomyiidse. However, only the 

 empty pupal skins attached to the spikelets of the seed were present, 

 so no clue to the identity of the species was given. This note was 



