THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



the ' flax-seed ' near the end, as if the flattened side had been bent in, almost 

 against the other side, by a nail. The colour was at first of various shades of 

 chestnut, from quite light to full brown, and both in colour and shape the 

 cases had a strong resemblance to the flax-seeds from which they take their 

 name, except in being narrower. This brown case is the hardened skin of 

 the maggot, and in this puparium, or pupa-case, the maggot changes first to 

 the pupa, and thence to the perfect fly ; at the earliest part of the observa- 

 tion the transverse lines shewing the divisions of the segments of the maggot 

 were still noticeable, but gradually, as the skin hardened, it contracted length- 

 wise, and the transverse lines wholly or almost entirely disappeared, and in- 

 stead of these, the flax-seed was marked with parallel lines." I will 

 not say more of the early stages of this insect, except to quote a 

 short description of the maggot or larva, by Dr. Packard, as given in a 

 footnote by Miss Ormerod : — " After remaining about four days in the eg£j- 

 state, the larva or maggot of the Hessian Fly hatches. The body is soft, 

 smooth, shining, oval, cylindrical, beneath a little flattened, and consists of 

 twelve segments besides the head, the latter soft, fleshy, and but little sepa- 

 rated from the body, with very rudimentary mouth-parts." 



My first impression, on comparing my samples with these descriptions, 

 was one of extreme doubt or scepticism. In no instance did we find the 

 peculiar sharp bend, nor was there any perforation visible in the stems by 

 which the young larva could have entered. The larva of the Hessian fly, as 

 would appear, feeds upwards and interiorly, whereas ours feeds downwards 

 and externally. The " flax-seeds " did not appear in any way attached, but blew 

 away with the slightest breath; and the " Hessian" seems to attack mostly 

 wheat, whereas these ignored the wheat close alongside and kept to the barley 

 only. Conviction soon followed that we must be on the wrong tack, and 

 must look elsewhere for the true solution of the mystery. I accordingly for- 

 warded some samples of the barley to Miss Ormerod, who kindly pointed out 

 their true nature. She says in her reply to my letter : — 



"Of the fifteen barley stems which you send me for examination, twelve 

 are quite unmistakeably suffering from having been attacked by the maggot 

 of Chlorops taniopus, sometimes known as the ' Ribbon-footed Cornfly/ and 

 the attack is sometimes known as 'Gout/ from the swollen and deformed 

 appearance caused, when (as you have observed) the ear is not able to leave 

 the sheath properly. The three other stalks look thin and poor, from some 

 not observable cause, I should conjecture poor growth, but the others have 

 thoroughly marked features of the C/ihrops attack, and especially the dis- 

 coloured gnawed furrow, which has be( n gnawed by the maggot from the 

 base of the ear or a little below down to 1 he first knot. The situation, namely, 



