STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
761 
1UDQK. THB FLY. APPEARS IN JUNE. 
The Fly and its Habits. 
It is a little before the middle of June, in Eastern New York, 
that the fly of the wheat midge comes abroad each ,year, to 
deposit its eggs in the wheat ears. Straggling individuals may 
sometimes be seen, several days before the time of the general 
hatching of the brood. Thus, I once met with one of these flies 
upon the first day of June. I have frequently noticed that about 
the twelfth day of June, two or three very hot sultry days oc¬ 
curred, bringing these flies out suddenly in full force. This is 
the time when our farmers are usually engaged in the first hoe¬ 
ing of their Indian corn, the leaves of which are but a few inches 
high. The white flowers on the locust trees are now fading and 
beginning to drop to the ground. And the same sultry evening 
air which brings the midge abroad, also brings out the earliest 
fire-flies. In different years I have observed that it was upon 
the same evening on which the first solitary sparkling of this 
insect was seen that the first midge was also noticed alighted 
around the lamp. These marks will probably serve better than 
the date at a particular locality, to indicate the time when the 
flies of the wheat midge are making their appearance, as they 
doubtless come out somewhat earlier to the south and later to 
the north of us. And if the weather be equable, with no very 
warm days towards the middle of June, their hatching will no 
doubt be more gradual, new individuals continuing to come forth 
for a week or more. 
I suppose it to be mostly in the night time that the flies are 
disclosed from their pupas, coming out in those fields where 
wheat was grown the preceding year ; and they are immediately 
flying about, everywhere, in search of the fields where wheat is 
now growing, in which fields they become gathered, mostly 
within twenty-four hours, it is probable, after they are hatched. 
The sexes in the meantime having paired, very few males ever 
accompany the females to the wheat fields. Hence, in addition 
to their other crimes, these insects have been supposed to be 
most gross polygamists, as not one male could be found among 
the wheat where were hundreds of females. But the few flies I 
have bred from the larvse, have given a much less disproportion 
in the relative numbers of the sexes than has hitherto been sup¬ 
posed. I liavo captured male flies among the wheat in only a 
