35 
I think has had too much importance assigned to it, the young 
plants being so soft and pliant that they would readily accommo- 
date themselves to this pressure, if they received no molestation 
beyond this. 
Is the crop ever benefitted by it? The vigor and luxuriance of 
the uninjured shoots from the same root, contrasts so strongly with 
the wilted and feeble appearance of those attacked by the worm, 
as to have led some to believe that the unaffected shoots were 
stimulated to a more rapid and robust growth in consequence of 
the pruning given by the fly; and that a better crop is thus some- 
times produced, by the presence of a moderate number of these 
worms among the wheat plants. The correctness of this opinion 
we very much doubt. The worm is nourished and reared upon 
those very fluids that are absorbed by the plant and elaborated for 
its own sustenance and growth. Every particle of this nutricious 
juice, therefore, that is consumed by the worm, is a direct loss of 
just so much material that would otherwise become straw and 
grain. At all events, we think our farmers generally will prefer 
that nature should be left to her own undisturbed course in rear- 
ing their wheat plants, and will be by no means solicitous to have 
this renowned guest take any part in the operation. 
Its change to a “ flax-seed” or dormant larva. When the worm, 
or active larva, has fully completed its growth, a slight diminu- 
tion in the dimensions of the inner soft parts of its body com- 
mences, in which the outer and harder skin does not participate, 
this latter retaining its original full size. The result of this con- 
traction is, that the worm gradually cleaves from its outer skin. 
If examined with a microscope when this change has recently 
commenced, a slight translucent space is observable at the head 
end, and a larger and more obvious one at the pointed or tail end, 
plainly indicating that the enclosed worm does not entirely fill its 
outer skin. This contraction continues, until the worm becomes 
entirely separated from its outer skin, and lies within it like the 
finger within a glove. The outer skin at the same time changes 
in color. From its original whiteness and transparency, it grad- 
ually becomes opake, brown, and finally of a dark bay or chestnut 
