GG-i AmiU'i] Ui'port fir 1888 of iJie CunsiiJliiiri Entomnhnj'iAt. 
extent over the district, I veiitui'O to suggest Unit it woukl be of 
a good deal of serviceable interest if farmers would examine 
their seed oats, or such oats as they may purchase, as to 
presence of fly chrysalids in them. These chrysalis cases would 
easily be observable as little chestuut-brown somewhat oval 
bodies, about the eighth of an inch long. If thei'e were many, 
it might be well to " pickle the oats so as to poison the chry- 
salids before the fly hatched out. 
The only point brought forward which appears to bear on 
remedial measures is the recovery of some part of the crop after 
being thrown into growth by rainfall ; this suggests that if, as 
soon as the attack was noticed, a stimulating dressing was 
applied, it might push on the side shoots so as to give a fair 
amount of crop without the great inequality of date of ripening 
consequent on a late second start. I have secured examples of 
the insect in all its stages, so that I should have no difficult}' 
in identifying specimens wliich might be forwarded to me for 
examination in future. 
Wlicat-hulh Maggot. — The attack of the wheat-bulb maggot 
was much more injurious than that of the frit fly, and occurred 
mainly in the midland or eastern counties ; at localities between 
Darlington on the north, Romford in Essex on the south-east, 
and Almondsbury, Gloucestershire, on the south-west part of the 
area. 
This attack has been known in previous years, and so far 
back as 1882, Mr. 11. H. Meade identified it as caused by the 
greyish, two-winged fly known scientifically as the Th/Jemia 
ri>arcfat<c of Fallen ; and in the widespread mischief caused by it 
last season, in order that there might be no doubt as to the 
natui'e of the attack, I again submitted specimens to Mr. 
Meade, who confirmed my determination of them as being If. 
cnardata. 
The damage to the young wheat plant caused by the mag- 
gots of this fly seems to me indistinguishable from that caused by 
the frit fly to young oats ; they feed in the heart of the plant, and 
cause the death of the infested shoot by the direct effects partly of 
their gnav/ings, and partly of the consequent decay. The flies, 
however, and also the maggots of the two kinds, are easily dis- 
tinguishable. 
The wheat-bulb fly, JI. coarctain, is about twice as long as 
the frit fly, that is, about a quarter of an inch long, and grey 
with black bristles, instead of being black and very smooth. 
The males are faintly striped above, and have one indistinct 
stripe above the abdomen, which is narrow and flat. The females 
are of a yellower, or ashy grey ; the legs black, with the shanks 
