341 
No. 150.] 
Hessian was therefore remarked by different writers as most inap¬ 
propriate, still it was in such universal use, that no one ventured to 
propose that it should be changed. And this continues to be the 
only name by which it is spoken of at the present day, with one or 
two exceptions. In the Ohio Cultivator it is designated as the 
“ wheat fly,” and in late volumes of the Genesee Farmer the names 
Hessian fly and wheat fly are indiscriminately applied to it. The 
name “wheat fly,” however, had been anteriorly and extensively 
applied to the C. tritici, upon both sides of the Atlantic, and was 
indeed the only common name of that insect in use among writers 
in agricultural journals and popular treatises, until recently, the 
perhaps more judicious name of “ wheat-midge,” has been bestow¬ 
ed upon it, by some of the best foreign authorities.* 
* may Imre state some additional reasons which induced us in our former essay, 
to adopt the name “ wheat-fly” in preference to that of “ wheat-midge,” the name 
by which the C. tritici has been designated by Mr. Curtiss, Westwood, and some 
other recent writers. 
1. The insect itseli, is, next after the wholly inappropriate name of “weevil,” 
most commonly called “ the fly,” we believe, in all those districts where it is molt 
abundant and has been longest known. It is never called “the midge.” Why, then, 
should we speak ono common name, and write another ; or have in print as the com- 
mon name, what we well know is not the common name. 
2. No othor insect in the world has a popular name better established than the 
Hessian fly. Both it and the C. tritici will undoubtedly continue to be common in¬ 
sects in this country, and very frequently spoken of. If one is called the Hessian Jly 
and the other the whoat-midge, every person not well acquainted with this subject, 
will imbibo the idea that they are very different insects, their names being so dissimi¬ 
lar ; whereas, they are most closely allied to each other. 
3. It has often beon remarked as a great desideratum, that tho technical and com¬ 
mon names of species in natural history, should correspond with each other; or, in 
other words, that the common names should in all eases where practicable, be trans¬ 
lations of the technical names. Cccidomyia tritici. literally rendered in English, is 
gall-fly of the wheat; but inasmuch as this species docs not produce galls, there is 
an obvious impropriety in retaining that word. Wheat-fly thus becomes the most direct 
translation of tho technical name, that the habits of the insect admit of. No one will 
maintain that v r heat-7m'dgc is a translation. 
Dr. Webster is in error in saying the word “ midge ” is “ not in use” at the pre¬ 
sent day. In tho neighboring Green mountain districts, one or more most annoying 
species of Simulium that tlioro abound, are daily designated in common conversation 
as the midges, or, as the name is often corrupted, the midgets. From Dr. Harris’ 
treatiso it appears that the same name is in popular use for the same insects in Maine. 
Tho term is limited in this country, wo believe, exclusively to those minute insocts, 
smaller than the musketoe, which suck the blood of other animals. 
