390 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



view, and I refer to it here in order to add a few observations to its 

 history. 



I have only observed it in the vicinity of Oxford, Ind., and my first 

 note bears the date of June G, when I captured two adults in a field of 

 wheat. 



On the 14th, in the same field, in a dwarfed stool about 3 inches high, 

 I took a nearly full-grown larva, which had apparently followed the 

 central leaf from near the base of the plant upward to a point slightly 

 below where the upper leaves began to diverge, and hence was not at 

 this time in the stem, but among the leaves. 



On June 16 another larva, also nearly mature, was found in the upper 

 joint of a growing straw in the same field. A week later, many with- 

 ering heads were noticed in the field, the effects of the larva? in the 

 straws. Puparia were observed on June 24. 



On July 18, adults, bred from straw obtained from this field a few 

 days previous, were copulating, other adults continuing to appear up 

 to the 2Gth. I have no record of them through August, but on the 5th 

 of September swept a number of adults from volunteer wheat. Adults 

 were bred from volunteer wheat October 1, and were swept from a field 

 of young wheat October G. 



Parasites. — The mite, Ueteropus ventricosus, was again encountered as 

 a parasite, and as the Meromyza larvae frequently cut off, either wholly 

 or in part, the straws which they infest, these minute insects find them 

 a much easier prey than the larvae of Isosoma IriticL 



Three times during the p resent season I have found Dipterous larvae, 

 other than this species, affecting the culms of wheat in much the same 

 manner as the Meromyza, and .up to this time, in two cases, have bred 

 the adult. But my material and notes are not at this time in a shape 

 to enable me to give a concise account of the life-history of these in- 

 sects, and for this reason 1 prefer to let the matter rest until making 

 my final report. 



THE FLEA-LIKE NEGRO-BUG. 



(Thyreocoris pulicarius, Germ.) 



The study of this species was undertaken with the object of breeding, 

 and thereby settling the date of oviposition and hatching- also of re- 

 cording these and such other facts as I might be able to get in their 

 life-history not hitherto published. 



It is only recently that they have been known to affect wheat, and I 

 have not observed them doing any great injury. 



Adults were observed copulating on May 9, and were at once confined 

 on wheat under glass, being fed on ripe strawberries. The females be- 

 gan to oviposit on the 20th, placing their eggs singly on the leaves and 

 sheath of the grain. 



On the 2Gth, after depositing a few eggs ki the intervening time, they 

 made their escape. 



The eggs may be described as follows: 



Length, f mm ; diameter, f mm ; form elongate, oval; and when first de- 

 posited the color is shining, very light orange, which gradually deep- 

 ens until just previous to hatching, when it is a livid red. One of these 

 eggs deposited on May 21 hatched June G, the larvae being f mm in 

 length, brown anteriorly, and red, barred with brown, posteriorly; legs 

 yellow. 



June 7, adults were still observed in fields of wheat in considerable 

 numbers. 



