856 
ANNUAL REPORT OF NEW YORK 
WHEAT MIDGE. 
eight flies in it, which I destroy. Then, upon walking around iu 
the field I find the midge flies are quite numerous everywhere in 
it, flying about, low down in the vacancies between the herbage, 
and others alighted and resting upon it. And when the open 
mouth of a vial is approached towards one of them, to inclose it 
therein, when it gets within an inch or two of the fly, the latter 
suddenly opens its wings and “ skedaddles ”—to use a slang term 
which has recently become current in our country. With three 
or four sweeps of the net I capture a multitude of them. I 
inclose ten of them in vials, and on examining these the following 
morning, I find five of them are males, and these are all dead, 
whilst the females are all alive; showing that the latter possess 
much more vitality and are longer-lived than the former. Both 
sexes are alike in their colors, their bodies being lemon yellow 
Avith the thorax orange yellow above, and usually slightly smoky 
on its fore part. The males are 0.06 long. A wing of a female, 
laid upon a scale, measures 0.09 by 0.045; a wing of a male is 
scant 0.07 by plump 0.03. 
June 24. A cool rainy night and day, thermometer at 58 0 . 
Find two midges in the net, a male and female, which I destroy. 
June 26. Yesterday rainy, the thermometer at 58°.. To-day 
pleasant, but cool. Find three midges in the net, all males, and 
also a black midge of the same size with the yellow ones. 
June 28. Warm and pleasant, thermometer at 75°. Find but one 
midge in the net. I suppose the hatch has now probably closed. 
July 1. The weather continues warm and pleasant. On going 
to the net I find nine midges in it, four of them males; also two 
small flies, probably of the Chlorops genus. And among the clover 
in all parts of the field the midge flies continue to be plenty. 
July 3. Warm and pleasant. I find four more midges in 
the net. 
July 5. Yesterday pleasant, and to-day a hot sun will roast 
out of the ground any midges which may yet be remaining 
therein. On going to the net at sunset, I find there is nothing in 
it; and being satisfied these insects have finished hatching, I 
take up the net. I have, therefore, as the result of these obser¬ 
vations, that thirty-two of these midge-flies came out of the 
ground within a circle a foot in diameter, the hatch commencing 
on the nineteenth of June and ending on the third of July, thus 
continuing for a fortnight. 
