TWO INSECTS AFFECTING WHEAT AND BAKLEY CROPS. 



327 



replied by return, " Send me a sliip-load if you can." I sent him 

 three pill-boxes full, containing between three thousand and four 

 thousand puparia. These Professor Eiley distributed to three of his 

 observation stations, where in due time the parasites hatched out and 

 increased, and became thoroughly acclimatized. 



Unfortunately, our Board of Agriculture has no such observation 

 stations, or even officials noted for their expert knowledge of insect 

 pests. 



Fig. 117. — Parasite of the Hessian Fly piercing the leaf-sheath 

 (under which is a grub) for the purpose of laying an egg in its 

 BODY. ( X 6 diam.) 



On August 18, 1908, Mr. G. E. Mainland, F.E.M.S., of Tenby, sent 

 to me a box of wheat-stalks from a field in that neighbourhood. Between 

 the joints underneath the leaf-sheath were from six to nine legless 

 larvge of a bright red colour, resting in a curled-up position, each 

 in a cavity in the stalk three-sixteenths of an inch in length, much 

 resembling a niche in a cathedral wall, with a fungus-like growth at the 

 top and bottom (figs. 118, 119). The larvae were actively twisting 

 about, evidently full-grown, for in a few days they left the stalks and 

 buried themselves in the soil. Specimens were sent (by the owner of 

 the field) to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries for the name, and 

 information how to deal with the pest, which had attacked the wheat 

 arid barley so that not a stalk had escaped. The advisers of the Board 



