29 
have been more unfortunate in his selection of a new one — the 
name wheat-fly having been at least fourteen years previously ap- 
propriated to a different insect, by Messrs. Loudon, Gorrie, Shir- 
reff, and several other writers in the British periodicals; having 
been used by the compilers of popular treatises on insects, one of 
which, republished in this country, has been for several years past 
circulating in almost every school district of this state (Harper’s 
Family and School Library, Insects, vol. ii., p. 226-228); and 
having, moreover, been adopted for the same insect in this coun- 
try, to omit names of less note, by Dr. Harris, in his Report—a 
work so superior to any similar treatise that has ever appeared, 
and embodying such a large amount of most valuable information 
upon the injurious insects of this country, that it must long remain 
a standard authority upon all matters of this kind.* With such 
wide currency to the name wheat-fly, what must community think 
the extent of the reading of that man to be, who adventures to 
proclaim that this name belongs to the Cecidomyia destructor, nor 
to the Cecidomyia tritici! It could scarcely excite more surprise 
if he was to inform us that his orthography of the specific name 
tritica was correct, and that we were wrong in writing it triticd. 
Mr. B.’s successor in the editorial chair of the Genesee Farmer, 
* We may here state some additional reasons which induced us in our for- 
mer essay, to adopt the name “ wheat-fly” in preference to that of “ wheat- 
midge,’’ the name by which the C. tritici has been designated by Mr. Curtis 
and some other recent writers. 
1. The insect itself, is, next after the wholly inappropriate name of “ wee- 
vil,” most commonly called “ the fly,” we believe, in all those districts where 
it is most abundant and has been longest known. Itis never called ‘‘ the 
» midge.” Why, then, should we speak one common name, and write another; 
or have in print as the cornmon name, what we well know ts not the common 
name. 
2. No other insect in the world has a trivial name better established than 
the Hessian fly. Both itand the C. tritici will undoubtedly continue to be 
common insects in this country, and very frequently spoken of. If one is 
called the Hessian fly, and the other the wheat-midge, every person not well 
acquainted with this subject, will imbibe the idea that they are very different 
insects, their names being so dissimilar; whereas, they are most closely allied 
to each other. 
3. It has often been remarked asa great desideratum, that the technical 
and common names of species in natural history, should correspond with each 
