355 
No. 150.] 
described than in the words of M. Kollar. The grain looks as 
though a herd of cattle had passed through it, so broken and tangled 
together is the straw. The worm attains its growth and enters its 
flax seed state about the first of June, and the flies of this second 
generation commonly come forth about the last of July and in 
August. 
Miss Morris's theory. —We do not deem it necessary to go into 
a detailed examination of the theory revived by Miss Morris in 1340, 
that the eggs of the Hessian fly are deposited in the grain, and that 
the larva lies in the centre of the culm. We suppose this theory 
to be abandoned by its late advocates, from the fact that for four 
years past, we have met with no farther attempts to sustain it. To 
us it appears manifest that the lady was widely misled at the very 
outset of her observations by an error in Mr. Say’s account, to wit, 
that “ the perfect fly appears early in June.” Were this the case, 
she might well enquire, “ Where are the eggs placed ? Surely not 
in the old and dying stalk .... and there is no young wheat growing 
from June until September.” The flies which Miss M. saw in June, 
1S36, “in countless numbers, hovering over and settling on the ears 
of wheat, we cannot but suspect were the same species which in 
this section of country appears in such swarms upon the heads of 
wheat about the middle of June, that it has been for years mistaken 
hereabouts for the wheat-fly or midge, (vide Transactions N. Y. 
State Jigr. Soc., vol. v., p. 260 and 267). In size and color it does 
closely resemble the Hessian fly, and might readily mislead any one 
just commencing their observations. That occasional specimens of 
the Hessian fly may be taken in June we do not doubt; *but that 
the main brood comes out, deposits its eggs, and disappears, a month 
earlier than this, we are quite confident, from our ow’n observations 
as already related, as well as from the testimony of almost every 
writer who speaks definitely upon this point. Those few larv<e 
which have been found in the centre of the wheat culm, were not 
unlikely of some other species, since in this particular its habits cor¬ 
respond with those of the Cephus pygmants , the Chlorops pumilio- 
nis, Sfc. That the Hessian fly larva resides in the sheath of the 
culm, and not in its centre, we feel confident Miss M. has herself 
become convinced ere this day:—so earnest and candid an enquirer 
