53 
mtggZ* ‘were^tatot'aUVnTtoim’very 
£“> l\o S S r so°u°nT ty or health, 
or e whe d re fl Tt e Xlup a lef |M K 
bfthe lln 4 * y and°much Tit dJSS^^piito oT thffield where 
the seed had all started freely, there was no appearance of any m- 
j-Vip lnWrP here being confined to the dead glass, unuuiutT 
rotting vegetation. Other corn fields adjacent, which had not been 
previously in grass, were free from the laivie. J 
Similar observations were made at Normal, June 1, where the 
mascots were found common on old grass lands, devouring corn that 
had Med to terminate, or which was growing feebly, but never 
as far as seen! eating a sound grain or attacking a perfectly Wealthy 
ubint Some infested stalks showed, howevei, but slight traces or 
feebleness and it is barely possible that now and then a hill was 
destroyed ’which would have rallied and saved itself if it had not 
be ^i fo the tl Durpose e< of S ’verifying these observations, a number of the 
larval ^re placed in a pot of earth in which several grains of corn 
hadbeen planted some days before, but only a part of which hae 
sprouted 1 On the 4th of June, this was examined and several ol 
the larvae were found at work on one of the partially dead kernels 
which had sent up an unhealthy shoot about two inches hig . 
Bv the favor of correspondents, specimens of these larval were 
freouentlv received from various points in Northern Illinois, and n 
one instance from Cedar county, in Eastern Iowa. In every.ca* 
where the information could be obtained, it was found that th 
conditions precedent were exactly as above described—the group 
having been Invariably broken up from grass the year precedm 
The latest mention of this insect in our notes occurred July 1C 
at which date examples were received from Chatsworth, in Living, 
ton county. 
CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION. 
I made numerous attempts to rear these larvae, but i ttl / fal ]®f 
exception and therefore the e?act species _ cannot be determine 
The ^characters of the larva itself are sufficient, however, to s. 
that it belongs to the order diptera, or two-wmged flies, and to ti 
family Mycetophilidas, which includes a great number of sma 
onat-like insects excessively abundant m spring, many of who. 
larv* are known to feed either on fungi or on decaying vegetatio 
Careful comparison of the mouth parts of this larva with thos 
this family described and figured by Baron Osten-backen, m tlie 
volume of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Entomological Societ 
shows that our species probably belongs to the genus Sciaia, 
beyond this fact it is not now possible to go. 
This larva (Plate IV, Fig. 5,) is cylindrical, smooth, white exce 
the head, which is jet-black. The body is divided into twelve se 
ments, not including the head, the three anterior of which 
