206 
numbers, and was a lively little black fellow about one-eighth of an 
inch long. Now, if the eggs were deposited about the eighth of 
September, as that is as soon as the wheat would be large enough 
for them, it would give them about 37 days to mature so as to 
fly again, though they might hatch a little sooner or later in 
the open field. I cannot say as to that; have no certain means of 
knowing.” 
The flies of the second brood are, in Southern Michigan, ready 
to deposit their eggs late in April or early in May “on spring wheat 
or barley which is- sufficiently advanced, in lieu of which they de¬ 
posit on the wheat again, not on the basal or radical leaves, but 
on the leaves which will be above the first or second, rarely the 
third joints.” (Cook.) 
Habits of the larva .—As soon at the footless larva or maggot 
hatches, it makes its way down the leaf to the base of the sheath, 
which, in the young winter wheat, is at the crown of the root. 
“Here [says. Herrick] it fastens, lengthwise, and head downwards? 
to the tender stalk, and lives upon the sap. It does not gnaw the 
stalk, nor does it enter the central cavity thereof; but, as the larva 
increases in size, it gradually becomes imbedded in the substance 
of the stalk. After taking its station, the larva moves no more, 
gradually loses its reddish color and wrinkled appearance, becomes 
plump and torpid, is at first semi-translucent, and then more and 
more clouded with i ntestinal white spots; and when near maturity, 
the middle of the intestinal parts is of a greenish color. In five or 
six weeks (varying with the season) the larva begins to turn brown, 
and soon becomes of a bright chestnut color, bearing some resemblance 
to a flaxseed.” 
EFFECT OF THE WORM OR LARVA ON THE WHEAT. 
As has been stated, the worm in autumn lies at the sheathing- 
base of the leaves just above the roots, at or near the surface of 
the soil. It is easy to detect the flaxseed from its large size and 
cliestnut-broAvn color, by separating the leaf from the stalk of the 
young wheat in October and November, when the worm has stopped 
feeding and is incased in its brown sack. Scattered shoots will be 
found, withered and changed to a light yellow color, and, as Fitch 
observes, strongly contrasting with the rich green of the vigorous 
uninjured plants. (See Plate I, representing a healthy stalk on the 
right and a dwarfed plant on the left, containing three flaxseeds, 
with the leaves partly withered.) The worms, before assuming the 
flaxseed state, rest between the leaves and the stalk; their soft 
fleshy undeveloped mouth-parts do not enable then to gnaw the 
surface of the plant, but the sap is supposed to be absorbed directly 
through the walls of the body, and thus they are said to feed by 
imbibition ; this weakens the plant and causes it to become unhealthy 
and turn yellow and die; moreover, although this point is disputed 
by Dr. Fitch, the presence of the worms causes the formation of a 
gall-like swelling or enlargement of the stalk, an abnormal growth 
of the plant being caused by the slight interruption to the flow of 
