64 The American Naturalist. [January, 
The Wheat Frit-Fly.—Dr. Otto Lugger reports’ extensive 
damage to wheat in the northwest by a larva supposed to belong to one 
of the frit flies. The stem is injured about three inches above the 
ground, the larve occurring immediately above a node. The insect so 
weakens the plant at this point that the stalk falls over some time 
before harvest, the grains do not fill out, and reaper passes over the 
fallen stem. ‘The puparia resemble the “ flaxseed” state of the 
Hessian fly, and are found within the culm. It is supposed that the 
insect hibernates with the puparia. Burning and plowing under the 
stubble are the remedial measures recommended. ‘This is apparently 
the worst frit-fly attack on wheat yet recorded in America. Dr. 
Lugger says that in many places fully one-fourth of the entire crop of 
wheat has been destroyed and in a great many more the losses amount 
to at least one-tenth, 
Entomological Notes.—That excellent periodical, Entomologi- 
cal News, has instituted a department of economic entomology, with 
Prof. J. B. Smith in charge. This magazine will prove very useful to 
amateur as well as professional entomologists, and deserves cordial 
support. There has lately been a tendency to insert only very short 
articles, or to continue a single article through several issues (some- 
what after the fashion of Entomologica Americana), which is unsatis- 
factory to all concerned. 
Mr. M. H. Beckwith discusses‘ the injuries’of the strawberry weevil 
(Anthonomus musculus) in Delaware, and reports finding the larve 
feeding upon the ovaries of strawberry blossoms. He surmises that 
there may be two or possibly three broods each year, but has been 
unable to trace the life-history of the insect during the latter summer 
months. 
Concerning the recent bestowal by the University of Heidelberg of 
the honorary degree of Doctor of Natural Science upon Baron C. R. 
von Osten Sacken, Prof. S. W. Williston writes: “Baron Osten 
Sacken’s work has been chiefly related to American Dipterology, but — 
the ripe fruits of his wide experience and broad grasp of principles 
have epriched all dipterology, and, I believe, all entomology. Others 
there are and have been who have won enviable honors in systematic 
dipterology ; others who have written more extensively than be, but 
no one has written more that will be appreciated in the future than 
has Baron Osten Sacken. 
*Minn. Exp. Station, Bull. No. 23. 
‘Delaware College Exp. Pinin, Bull. No. xviii. 
*Payehe, Vol.6, p. 346. 
