353 
base, making the field appear in patches, as Mr. Alwood describes it, 
as if a fire had swept over it. 
The eggs were found on May 9 of the same year, and from his notes 
we learn that they are inserted just under the edge of the leaf sheath 
in groups of 2, 3, and 5, and also singly. Thcegg is of a pure pearly 
white color, five times as long as broad, and tapering to a point at 
each end. The larvae, after hatching, distribute themselves along 
under the sheath, ten to fifteen under one. sheath, thus exhausting the 
juices of the plant, the outer leaves first becoming brown and seared? 
and the whole stalk finally withering away. The puparia are formed 
under the sheath, although in two instances the larva-had eaten a slit 
into the blade, inserted its body part of the way, and there transformed 
into a puparium. 
In April, 1894, specimens of a young sugar-cane plant were received 
through the Division of Chemistry, to which Division it had been sent 
by Mr. E. kelson Fell, of Narcoossee, Osceola County, Fla., with the 
information that about 5 per cent of the sprouts were affected by an 
insect, which proved upon examination to be the larva of this species. 
The damage done by the insect had been seen by the Chemist of the 
Department, Dr. H. W. Wiley, during a visit to the Department Sugar 
Experiment Station at Runnymede, Fla., in the spring of the same 
year. The infested plant was kept under observation in the insectary 
and the adult flies issued from April 28 to May 5. No complaint of 
damage to sugar-cane has since been received. In August, 1893, speci- 
mens of the adult insect were received from Prof. C. P. Gillette, of 
Ames, Iowa, who wrote that they had been reared from larvae found 
boring in the center of a stalk of corn on July 5. This note is quoted 
in Insect Life, vol. n, p. 281). 
On the 26th of June, 1894, Mr. William Saunders, Superintendent of 
the Department grounds, brought to this office a small cornstalk 
infested with the larvae of this insect. The plant had been obtained 
from some point in Maryland, but the exact locality was not ascer- 
tained. The larvae had formed a cavity of considerable size, the inte- 
rior of which presented a brownish appearance. The perfect insect 
issued July 5. 
We know nothing of the method of hibernation of this insect, and 
the only available remedy, from our present knowledge, will consist in 
the pulling up and destroying of infested plants as soon as the presence 
of the insect is noticed. It is evident from these isolated observations 
that the damage done by this species is quite widespread. It lives 
hidden from view and thus escapes detection. Its transformations are 
rapidly accomplished, and there are probably several annual genera 
tions. The rapidity of its transformations is such that it has probably 
frequently accomplished its work and escaped before its presence has 
even been suspected. It is practically a new insect enemy of cereals, 
and it is quite within the bounds of possibility that it may, at some 
