8 
injurious insects briefly notices this species (Trans. N. Y. State 
Agric. Society, 1843, vol. iii. p. 145 - 147.) 
With the prominent facts that have been laid before the public 
by our agricultural periodicals, every intelligent farmer is already 
familiar. The great difficulty experienced by persons but little con- 
yersant with zoological science, in determining what this wheat- 
worm really was, forms a striking feature in the earlier notices that 
appeared respecting it. Thus, by some it was for a time regarded 
as an animalcule of the vibrio genus, analogous to the “eels” gene- 
rated in vinegar and paste. By others, and quite extensively, it was 
pronounced to be a weevil, and this very improper name is to this 
day often applied to it. Others, still, deemed it to be “ Monsieur 
Tonson come again,” considering it as a return of the hessian-fly 
to a section of the country from which it had long been absent. It 
would be easy to point out how erroneous each of these opinions 
are ; but I deem it wholly unnecessary, as the public mind is now 
no longer distracted upon this subject ; and the correct view, that 
this insect is a fly, peculiar in its habits, and differing from any of 
those previously known in this country, universally prevails. 
It is not improbable but that one or both of the species of the 
wheat-fly may have been present in this country, in limited numbers, 
many years before it was distinctly noticed. In truth, common as 
this insect still is in this district, if our farmers, guided by the 
knowledge they have acquired of it, were not zealously searching 
for it in every field, I much doubt whether it would be at all ob- 
served here at the present day. And often too when a careful 
exauination of the growing grain leads to a belief that the crop is 
scarcely infested, an inspection of the threshing-floor, or of the 
screenings of the fanning-mill, will frequently demonstrate that it 
was present in much greater abundance than was surmised. These 
facts plainly show, that this insect might lurk a long time in our 
country wholly:unobserved. 
Mr. Jewett says the wheat-fly first appeared in western Ver- 
mont in the year 1820 (New-Eng. Farmer, vol. xix. p. 301). It 
was not, however, till the years 1828 and 1829 that it became so 
numerous as to attract the attention of community ; the same years, 
be it observed, when its ravages were so annoying in Scotland. It 
was in the northern part of Vermont, bordering upon the line of 
Lower Canada, where it became so excessively multiplied at this 
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