345 
No. 150.] 
Its characters .—When freshly taken from the root of the wheat 
the mature worm (fig. g ,) measures about fifteen hundredths of an 
inch (0.15) in length, by about 0.06 in breadth. It shows no signs 
of life when placed upon paper and turned over with a needle point. 
It is soft, glabrous, shining, white, oval and apparently composed 
of but nine segments, although twelve can often be distinctly per¬ 
ceived before its growth is completed. These are quite slightly 
marked by faint transverse lines of a greenish brown hue. Its under 
side is flattened, and has an oblong grass green cloud or spot in the 
middle, placed longitudinally. No regular contractions or crena- 
tures occur along the margin to mark the segments, though after the 
worm has laid exposed to the air an hour, the color of the trans¬ 
verse lines above spoken of becomes bleached out as it were, and 
then, perhaps from the worm’s having become somewhat dried, 
faintly impressed transverse lines are perceptible at the junction of 
each of the nine segments: faint longitudinal striae are also discern- 
able, as though produced by the pressure of the parallel veins or 
ribs of the sheath and culm, between which the worm had laid. 
Its mode of feeding .—We have hitherto sought in vain to ascer¬ 
tain, by ocular and microscopic examinations, how it is that the 
worm imbibes its nourishment from the stalk. To expose it to 
view, we are obliged to place it in circumstances so unnatural to it, 
that it apparently refrains from feeding. That it “gnaws” the stalk, 
as some writers in our agricultural papers, and some compilers of 
popular treatises inform their readers, is an error so gross as scarcely 
to deserve notice. Some have supposed that it absorbs its nourish¬ 
ment through the pores of its skin ; but we incline to the belief that 
Dr. Lee’s opinion is nearest the truth of any that has been hitherto 
advanced — that it takes in its nouiishment by suction, in a manner 
more analogous to the leech than any other familiar object. (Gen. 
Farmer ) vii. 225). 
Its effects upon the crop . — The autumnal attack of the fly is in a 
double sense a radical one. Each particular shoot at whose root 
one or more of these larvae nestles, is commonly destroyed by the 
time the worm has attained its growth. The presence of these 
worms is therefore readily detected by an examination of the young 
wheat in October or November. Individual shoots will be found 
