328 [Assembly 
had been just drank at dinner, had five hundred flies in it, within a 
few minutes. The windows are filled with them when they desire 
to make their escape. They are very distinguishable from every 
other fly, by their (having) horns or whiskers.” 
Accompanying Col. Morgan’s letter is a brief report, made by 
Thomas Clark, who, at the. request of his neighbors had gone to 
Long Island to gather correct information respecting the fly, and 
the means of escaping its depredations. He became well satisfied 
that the Underhill wheat was fly proof, and could be obtained in 
any desired quantities, at the moderate price of $1.25 per bushel. 
He also reports the interesting fact, that the fly had now become 
so reduced in its numbers on the west end of Long Island, that 
many of the inhabitants supposed there had been none the present 
year, though he himself saw it there quite common still. Since 
1779 their crops had been destroyed more or less every year, until 
the present. 
In 1788, a communication in Carey’s Museum , (vol. iv. p. 47), 
from Buck’s county, Pa., informs us that in the vicinity of Trenton, 
N. J., so much as the seed sown would not be harvested. Many 
farmers had plowed up their wheat crops in the spring, and planted 
them with corn. The fly also in this year commenced it ravages in 
the State of Pennsylvania. 11 Near seed-time last year, many per¬ 
sons on the Pennsylvania shore saw the insect so thick in the air as 
to appear like a cloud, coming over Delaware river.” 
Following this communication, is a paper signed “ a landholder,” 
who regards the eggs as laid in the grain of ripe wheat, and sowed 
with them ; and proposes procuring seed from places not infested 
with the fly, as a remedy. 
Messrs.Vaux and Jacobs, farmers of Providence,Pa., in July, 1788, 
made a tour through New Jersey and Long Island, for the purpose 
of gathering information respecting the fly, and the best modes of 
withstanding its attack. Their account is published in the Phila¬ 
delphia Packet of August 21st, and is mainly occupied with a des¬ 
cription of the Underhill wheat, and a full confirmation of previ¬ 
ous reports respecting it. 
