150 
Observations on the various Insects 
which affords nourishment to the maggot. Another year or two 
pf the wheat-fly will make two-thirds of the farmers here bank- 
rupts."* 
In 1841 Professor Henslow found that every field from which 
he had obtained specimens had been attacked by the midge, and 
there were larvae present in almost every ear. A tall description 
of Revet wheat had particularly suttijred ; in one well-grown ear 
only nine sound grains remained, the lest had been rendered abor- 
tive by this insect, arid the yield was calculated at one-third less 
than was expected. This is not surprising when we learn that, 
from the chatf" and dross collected upon barn-floors in three differ- 
ent localities where the wheat was threshed and dressed. Professor 
Henslow made a calculation, by which it appears that seven 
bushels of the dust contained 834,952 larvae and pupae of the 
wheat-midge. f 
Before entering upon the remedies suggested, it will be desira- 
ble to review the economy of the Wheat-midge ; but I fear that 
the ingenuity of man will never devise any method for the destruc- 
tion of this little rogue in grain when it has once taken possession 
of a standing crop. In June the eggs are laid in the ear whilst it 
is in flower and the incipient corn is tender ; the larvae live 
amongst the parts of fructification until ihey are full grown, after 
which they change to pupae upon the sound grains and inner 
valves, or enter the earth to undergo their transformations ; some of 
the flies hatching in the summer, and the majority, it is believed, 
in the following June. 
I should expect that the early wheats would generally suffer the 
most, but as the attacks of the Wheat-midge are irregular and un- 
certain, even if the fact were established, any attempt of the farmer 
to avail himself of such knowledge could not be relied upon. To 
apply any remedy when the ears are once inoculated, I think im- 
possible; it seems to be only in the pupa state that they can be 
assailed. Professor Henslovv's suggestion therefore appears to 
be the most feasible and best calculated to check their increase, 
provided the larvae and pupae carried into the barn do not die from 
the artificial state in which they are placed. He recommends, the 
use of a sieve, sufficiently open to let the pupae and larvae pass 
through with the dust, which must be removed and burnt. He 
says, " It occurred to me that, if a wire-gauze sieve were placed 
before the winnowing-machine in a sloping position, so as to allow 
the chart' to fall upon it and then roll from it, the pupaj would 
pass through, and might be caught with the dust in a tray placed 
below the sieve. I have put this to the test of experiment, and 
find it answer perfectly. Two pieces of wire-gauze were placed 
* Gard. Mag., vol. vi. p. 495. 
t Vide the Tables, &c., in Royal Agric. Journ., vol. iii. p. 38. 
