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  234 
  REPORT 
  UNITED 
  STATES 
  ENTOMOLOGICAL 
  COMMISSION. 
  

   DISTRIBUTION 
  OF 
  THE 
  HESSIAN 
  FLY. 
  

  

  There 
  seems 
  to 
  be 
  good 
  reasons 
  for 
  believing 
  that 
  this 
  insect 
  was 
  

   introduced 
  from 
  southern 
  and 
  southeastern 
  Europe. 
  It 
  was 
  detected 
  

   there 
  in 
  the 
  spring 
  of 
  1834, 
  by 
  Prof. 
  J. 
  D. 
  Dana^ 
  who 
  found 
  the 
  larvie 
  

   and 
  pupa^,j 
  and 
  reared 
  the 
  flies 
  from 
  wheat 
  growing 
  on 
  the 
  island 
  of 
  

   Minorca. 
  He 
  sent 
  several 
  pupa^ 
  and 
  flies 
  from 
  Mahon 
  to 
  ]Mr. 
  Herrick, 
  

   who 
  identified 
  them 
  as 
  the 
  Hessian 
  Fly.^^^ 
  

  

  With 
  Herrick. 
  Fitch, 
  and 
  others, 
  when 
  we 
  prepared 
  our 
  Bulletin 
  on 
  

   this 
  insect, 
  we 
  were 
  disposed 
  to 
  credit 
  the 
  prevalent 
  belief 
  of 
  Colonel 
  

   Morgan, 
  that 
  this 
  fly 
  was 
  introduced 
  into 
  America 
  in 
  the 
  straw 
  sup- 
  ^ 
  

   posed 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  used 
  for 
  packing, 
  brought 
  by 
  the 
  Hessian 
  troops 
  

   daring 
  the 
  Eevolutionary 
  War, 
  in 
  August, 
  1776. 
  It 
  was 
  supposed 
  that 
  

   the 
  starting 
  point 
  from 
  which 
  the 
  fly 
  originated 
  was 
  the 
  western 
  end 
  of 
  

   Long 
  Island, 
  and 
  that 
  it 
  spread 
  from 
  that 
  point 
  over 
  different 
  parts 
  of 
  

   the 
  country. 
  

  

  Our 
  republication 
  of 
  the 
  view 
  that 
  this 
  fly 
  was 
  introduced 
  by 
  the 
  Hes- 
  

   sians 
  led 
  to 
  the 
  publication 
  of 
  an 
  article 
  by 
  Dr. 
  H. 
  A. 
  Hagen 
  in 
  the 
  Cana- 
  

   dian 
  Entomologist 
  for 
  October, 
  1880, 
  wherein 
  he 
  states 
  that 
  Dr. 
  B. 
  

   Wagner, 
  of 
  Fulda, 
  Hesse 
  Oassel, 
  had 
  some 
  years 
  since 
  disproved 
  the 
  

   theory 
  that 
  the 
  Hessian 
  troops 
  could 
  have 
  introduced 
  the 
  insect 
  from 
  

   Germany. 
  This 
  led 
  us 
  to 
  obtain 
  Wagner's 
  publication, 
  a 
  translation 
  

   of 
  which, 
  with 
  Dr. 
  Hagen's 
  paper, 
  and 
  other 
  articles 
  by 
  Loew, 
  Oohn, 
  

   and 
  Koppen, 
  we 
  reproduce 
  wholly 
  or 
  in 
  part 
  in 
  the 
  appendices 
  to 
  this 
  

   report 
  in 
  order 
  that 
  the 
  reader 
  may 
  have 
  all 
  the 
  known 
  facts 
  regarding 
  

   the 
  appearance 
  and 
  distribution 
  of 
  the 
  Hessian 
  Fly 
  in 
  Europe. 
  

  

  From 
  Dr. 
  H. 
  Loew's 
  paper, 
  x)ublished 
  in 
  1859, 
  it 
  appears 
  that 
  a 
  new 
  

   enemy 
  of 
  the 
  rye, 
  called 
  the 
  New 
  Corn 
  Worm 
  or 
  Eye 
  Maggot, 
  made 
  its 
  

   appearance 
  in 
  certain 
  districts 
  of 
  the 
  provinces 
  of 
  Silesia, 
  Fosen, 
  and 
  

   Prussia, 
  in 
  1857 
  and 
  1858. 
  This 
  insect 
  he 
  called 
  Cecidomyia 
  secalina, 
  

   supposing 
  it, 
  from 
  want 
  of 
  specimens 
  for 
  comj)arison, 
  to 
  be 
  different 
  from 
  

   G. 
  destructor. 
  Jt 
  was 
  afterwards 
  shown 
  by 
  Dr. 
  Wagner 
  and 
  Professor 
  

   Cohn 
  to 
  be 
  the 
  same 
  as 
  the 
  so-called 
  Hessian 
  Fly. 
  

  

  Dr. 
  B. 
  Wagner, 
  whose 
  essay 
  is 
  carefully 
  prepared 
  and 
  evidently 
  re- 
  

  

  113 
  Mr. 
  Herrick, 
  in 
  his 
  valuable 
  article 
  in 
  Silliman''s 
  Journal 
  (vol. 
  xli, 
  p. 
  154), 
  informs 
  us 
  that 
  Mr. 
  J. 
  D. 
  

   Dana, 
  who 
  had 
  been 
  much 
  associated 
  with 
  him 
  in 
  making 
  a 
  thorough 
  investigation 
  of 
  the 
  habits 
  of 
  the 
  

   Hessian 
  Fly 
  and 
  its 
  parasites, 
  being 
  on 
  a 
  voyage 
  in 
  the 
  Mediterranean, 
  "on 
  the 
  13th 
  of 
  March, 
  1834, 
  and 
  

   subsequently, 
  collected 
  several 
  larvse 
  and 
  pupa3 
  from 
  wheat 
  plants 
  growing 
  in 
  a 
  field 
  on 
  the 
  island 
  of 
  

   Minorca. 
  From 
  these 
  pupse 
  were 
  evolved, 
  ou 
  the 
  16th 
  of 
  March, 
  4ii34, 
  two 
  individuals 
  of 
  an 
  insect, 
  which 
  

   his 
  recollections 
  (aided 
  by 
  a 
  drawing 
  of 
  the 
  Hessian 
  Fly 
  with 
  which 
  he 
  was 
  provided) 
  enabled 
  him 
  to 
  

   pronounce 
  to 
  be 
  the 
  Cecidomyia 
  destructor. 
  More 
  of 
  the 
  perfect 
  insects 
  were 
  evolved 
  in 
  the 
  course 
  of 
  

   the 
  month, 
  one 
  of 
  which 
  deposited 
  eggs 
  like 
  those 
  of 
  the 
  Hessian 
  Fly. 
  In 
  letters 
  dated 
  Mahon, 
  April 
  

   8 
  and 
  21, 
  Mr. 
  D. 
  sent 
  me 
  five 
  of 
  the 
  insects 
  and 
  several 
  of 
  the 
  pupae. 
  They 
  arrived 
  in 
  safety, 
  and, 
  after 
  

   a 
  careful 
  examination, 
  I 
  saw 
  no 
  good 
  reason 
  to 
  doubt 
  the 
  identity 
  of 
  this 
  insect 
  with 
  the 
  Hessian 
  Fly. 
  

   The 
  Mahonese 
  asserted 
  that 
  the 
  insect 
  had 
  been 
  therefrom 
  time 
  immemorial, 
  and 
  often 
  did 
  great 
  dam- 
  

   age 
  both 
  there 
  and 
  in 
  Spain." 
  And 
  further, 
  "on 
  the 
  28th 
  of 
  April, 
  1834, 
  Mr. 
  D. 
  collected 
  from 
  a 
  wheat- 
  

   Ji 
  eld 
  just 
  without 
  the 
  walls 
  of 
  Toulon, 
  in 
  Fmnce, 
  several 
  pupaj 
  and 
  one 
  larva 
  like 
  those 
  before 
  obtained. 
  

   On 
  the 
  4th 
  of 
  June, 
  1834, 
  he 
  obtained 
  similar 
  pupaj 
  from 
  awheat-field 
  near 
  Naples." 
  We 
  doubt 
  whether 
  

   there 
  were 
  living 
  at 
  that 
  day, 
  two 
  persons 
  better 
  qualified 
  to 
  determine 
  the 
  identity 
  of 
  these 
  insects 
  

   with 
  the 
  Hessian 
  Fly 
  than 
  Messrs. 
  Herrick 
  and 
  Dana. 
  Testimony 
  from 
  such 
  a 
  source 
  needs 
  no 
  com- 
  

   ment. 
  "The 
  Hessian 
  Fly." 
  By 
  Asa 
  Fitoh, 
  pp. 
  5, 
  6. 
  

  

  