﻿236 
  REPORT 
  UNITED 
  STATES 
  ENTOMOLOGICAL 
  COMMISSION. 
  

  

  Hessian 
  troops. 
  TIi© 
  late 
  Judge 
  Hickock, 
  of 
  Lansingburgh., 
  N. 
  Y.,"* 
  in 
  a 
  communication 
  

   to 
  the 
  Board 
  of 
  Agriculture 
  in 
  the 
  year 
  1823, 
  and 
  published 
  in 
  their 
  Memoirs 
  (vol. 
  ii, 
  

   p. 
  169), 
  says, 
  *'A 
  respectable 
  and 
  observing 
  farmer 
  of 
  this 
  town. 
  Col. 
  James 
  Brook- 
  

   ings, 
  has 
  informed 
  me, 
  that 
  on 
  his 
  first 
  hearing 
  of 
  the 
  alarm 
  on 
  Long 
  Island, 
  in 
  the 
  

   year 
  1786 
  (doubtless 
  1776 
  is 
  intended), 
  and 
  many 
  years 
  before 
  its 
  ravages 
  were 
  com- 
  

   plained 
  of 
  in 
  this 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  country, 
  he 
  detected 
  the 
  same 
  insect, 
  upon 
  examining 
  

   the 
  wheat 
  growing 
  on 
  his 
  farm 
  in 
  this 
  town. 
  

  

  Wagner 
  then 
  adds 
  tliat 
  he 
  will 
  not 
  deny 
  the 
  possibility 
  that, 
  as 
  Fitch 
  

   presumes, 
  the 
  insect 
  observed 
  by 
  Colonel 
  Brookings 
  was 
  not 
  the 
  Hes- 
  

   sian 
  Fly, 
  but 
  he 
  adds 
  that 
  the 
  attacks 
  of 
  the 
  latter 
  are 
  highly 
  character- 
  

   istic, 
  and 
  in 
  their 
  consequences 
  so 
  conspicuous, 
  that 
  a 
  mistake 
  concern- 
  

   ing 
  the 
  insect 
  could 
  happen 
  only 
  during 
  its 
  first 
  appearance 
  in 
  a 
  locality. 
  

   ^'In 
  our 
  country 
  [Hesse-Oassel], 
  for 
  instance, 
  after 
  but 
  one 
  year's 
  experi- 
  

   ence, 
  every 
  farmer 
  knows 
  the 
  pseudo-pupse 
  of 
  this 
  enemy; 
  he 
  knows 
  

   ■exactly 
  how 
  they 
  look, 
  when 
  they 
  occur 
  on 
  the 
  stalk, 
  &c." 
  

  

  It 
  may 
  also 
  here 
  be 
  stated 
  that 
  Dr. 
  Mitchell, 
  in 
  his 
  article 
  in 
  the 
  

   Encyclopsedia 
  Britannica, 
  says, 
  '•'■ 
  It 
  was 
  first 
  discovered 
  in 
  the 
  year 
  1776." 
  

   Dr. 
  Hagen's 
  statement 
  would 
  leave 
  the 
  reader 
  to 
  infer 
  that 
  Dr. 
  Mitchell 
  

   had 
  stated 
  that 
  the 
  fly 
  had 
  appeared 
  in 
  1776, 
  "before 
  the 
  arrival 
  of 
  the 
  

   trooiJS," 
  but 
  the 
  words 
  in 
  quotation 
  marks 
  are 
  simply 
  Dr. 
  Hag-en's 
  own 
  

   words. 
  We 
  have 
  not 
  seen 
  the 
  edition 
  of 
  the 
  Encyclopaedia 
  Britannica 
  

   •containing 
  Mitchell's 
  article. 
  What 
  Mitchell 
  did 
  say 
  in 
  substance 
  was 
  

   that 
  the 
  Hessian 
  Fly 
  appeared 
  in 
  1776. 
  Whether 
  before 
  or 
  after 
  the 
  

   landing 
  of 
  the 
  Hessian 
  troops 
  he 
  does 
  not 
  say. 
  So 
  the 
  evidence 
  of 
  Dr. 
  

   Mitchell 
  is 
  not 
  of 
  much 
  value, 
  while 
  that 
  of 
  Colonel 
  Brookings 
  is 
  quite 
  

   explicit, 
  and 
  may 
  be 
  used 
  as 
  proof 
  of 
  the 
  appearance 
  of 
  the 
  Hessian 
  Fly 
  

   in 
  1776 
  in 
  Lansingburgh, 
  N. 
  Y., 
  and 
  that 
  the 
  Hessian 
  troops 
  had 
  noth- 
  

   ing 
  to 
  do 
  with 
  its 
  importation. 
  

  

  Dr. 
  Hagen, 
  who 
  adopts 
  Wagner's 
  opinion 
  that 
  the 
  Hessian 
  Fly 
  was 
  

   not 
  imported 
  by 
  the 
  Hessians, 
  and 
  whose 
  article 
  is 
  based 
  mainly 
  on 
  

   Wagner's 
  publication, 
  which 
  we 
  may 
  here 
  say 
  was 
  unknown 
  to 
  us 
  until 
  

   he 
  called 
  attention 
  to 
  it, 
  also 
  confirms 
  Wagner's 
  statement 
  that 
  the 
  

   Hessian 
  Fly 
  was 
  unknown 
  in 
  Prussia, 
  and 
  indeed 
  in 
  Germany, 
  until 
  

   1857. 
  He 
  states 
  also 
  that 
  "in 
  1859 
  the 
  same 
  insect 
  was 
  very 
  obnoxious 
  

   to 
  the 
  rye 
  in 
  Eastern 
  Prussia, 
  and 
  was 
  studied 
  by 
  myself. 
  In 
  1860 
  it 
  

   had 
  advanced 
  westward 
  to 
  Augsburg, 
  where 
  it 
  was 
  studied 
  by 
  Professor 
  

   Eosenhauer, 
  and 
  to 
  Fulda, 
  Hesse. 
  Everywhere 
  it 
  was 
  considered 
  to 
  

   •be 
  an 
  entirely 
  new 
  pest, 
  never 
  seen 
  or 
  observed 
  before. 
  * 
  * 
  * 
  in 
  

   the 
  following 
  years 
  the 
  calamity 
  subsided, 
  and 
  was 
  soon 
  nearly 
  forgotten. 
  

   Extensive 
  destructions 
  in 
  Hungary 
  in 
  1864 
  are 
  reported 
  by 
  Messrs. 
  

   Haberlandt 
  and 
  Kuenstler, 
  and 
  in 
  1879 
  in 
  Eussia. 
  I 
  find 
  no 
  statements 
  

   of 
  injury 
  done 
  by 
  the 
  fly 
  in 
  Germany 
  after 
  1860, 
  and 
  the 
  reports 
  for 
  

   Bohemia 
  for 
  1872 
  and 
  1879 
  state 
  directly 
  that 
  the 
  fly 
  was 
  not 
  observed. 
  

   Dr. 
  Schiner, 
  in 
  Vienna, 
  had 
  till 
  1864 
  seen 
  no 
  specimen; 
  the 
  best 
  proof 
  

   that 
  it 
  had 
  not 
  been 
  obnoxious 
  in 
  Austria." 
  

  

  ii'^Near 
  Troy, 
  in 
  Eensselaer 
  County. 
  

  

  