54 
winter in other than the egg state. This will also, probably, be found 
true wherever winter wheat is grown. 
The following account of the operations of this species in England 
is taken from Buckton’s “Monograph of British Aphides ” 
“Early in the year the young aphides absorb sap from the blade 
close to the stem, but later they attack the ears in vast numbers, 
inserting their rostra close to the junctures of the grains with the 
stalk. Sometimes as many Aphides are present as there are grains in 
the ears. 
“Doubtless the injury done is not so much from the quantity of 
nutritive sap which they withdraw from the plant as from the incessant 
irritation produced by the punctures of the sucking apparatus. A 
si?kly condition and a yellow color are soon induced upon the corn 
plants; but, just as the hop crop is often saved by the appearance of 
swarms of Coccinellidce and ether checks to Aphides, the wheat crop 
is often saved by the operations of certain minute Ichneumonidae and 
Chalddidae. 
“If the ears of wheat be searched early in the month of July, very 
probably a number of dead or dying insects will be found fixed singly 
at the base of each grain, with their heads usually turned downwards. 
These insects, which are of a rich brown or sienna color, are the 
pupae of S. granaria which have been struck by a small, black, 
winged fly ( Ephedrus plagiator?). These parasites may be ob¬ 
tained without difficulty if some of the blighted wheat ears are 
preserved under a bell glass, when they emerge from the round 
holes they cut in the Aphis pupae. They possess attenuated shining 
bodies, long hairy legs, and many jointed antennae. The insects ap¬ 
pear very large when referred to the empty skins within which they 
have undergone their metamorphosis 
“If the cornfields be again searched a little later in the month, an¬ 
other insect of a different genus will be seen running with excitement 
over the wheat ears, and tapping with its rapidly vibrating antennae 
the pupae already struck by the Ephedras before mentioned. One of 
the ears was placed under a microscope of low power for observation. 
Notwithstanding this novel situation, the winged insect, which was 
identified with Cerciphron Carpenteri, Curt, was too much interested in 
its work to suspend its operation. After the Ceraphron had satisfied 
itself that a pupa had not been previously tampered with by one of 
its own species, it turned the apex of its abdomen towards the abdomen 
of the Aphis, and then bent the points of its antennae so as to form 
a fulcrum, like a knee-joint against part of the wheat ear. A fine -but 
short ovipositor was then extruded, and by means of a peculiar sawing 
motion was finally thrust through the hardened skin of the Aphis 
pupa.- This motion was continued for ten minutes at least, and even 
after the insect was .pierced, during which operation probably the 
larva of the Ephedrus was stung and made insensible. Finally the 
Ceraphron introduced its own egg, from the grub of which eventually 
come the destruction of the larva of the parasite, which first attacked 
the larvae of Siphonopliora granaria .' 1 ' 1 
This species operates not only on wheat, but also on oats, barley 
and various grasses. During tire past spring (1878) these insects were 
quite abundant in Southern Illinois on the wheat, and caused consider 
