INSECTS. 



169 



at harvest time, leave their hiding-places, and let 

 themselves fall to the ground, where the following 

 spring they become pupse, from which midges quickly 

 emerge. Itemedy: After a year in which the insect 

 has caused great damage, the fields must be deeply 

 ploughed in order to kill the larvae, which would 

 otherwise live through the winter. 



The Wheat Midge {Cecidomyia tritici). 



Male 5>g inch, female (Fig. 110) ^^ inch, and possess- 

 ing an ovipositor which, when extended, is twice that 



Fig. 112. — The Wheat Midge ^Cecidomyia tritici) : Li larva in the contracted, 

 Lit, the same in the extended condition. B, awheat flower : a-y outer, az inner glume ; 

 b, stamens ; c, brush-like stigmas ; d, ovary ; Z, larvee of the wheat midge. Li and 

 Lii highly, B less highly, magnified. 



length. Citron yellow, slightly hairy; antennae 

 blackish, eyes black, legs dirty yellow. In spring 

 or early summer, the midges creep out of the soil in 

 fields where wheat has been planted the previous 

 year. After pairing, the females wander to fields 

 where wheat or, more rarely, rye is growing. The 



