however, these damaged and shriveled heads were so numer- 
to have apparently reduced the crop from ten to twenty-five 
it.; an injury which the farmers had noticed, but which none 
en able to account for to their satisfaction, the presence of 
dge having entirely escaped them. The heads upon which it 
id were those which had filled imperfectly—sometimes con- 
no plump kernels, and sometimes fairly well filled except at 
of the ear. 
1 the account of its life history, given later, it will be seen 
ie midge was now near the end of its life above ground, and 
bt by far the greater part of those which had previously in- 
the wheat had already entered the earth. The wet weather 
preceding week had in fact supplied the conditions most fav- 
to this migration of the larvae. 
e were not, on an average, more than three or four midge 
o a head, and these were commonly found on the outside of 
me, only occasionally on the kernel within. The observa- 
ere given should at least serve to put the farmers of the 
n part of the State on their watchful guard against this in- 
he most dreaded and destructive foe of spring wheat known 
sulture; and in the hope of making them personally ac¬ 
id with this enemy of their harvests, I append here a suffi- 
escription and figures to enable the reader to recognize the 
in its various stages, and such an account of its life history 
justify the recommendations made for the limitation of its 
! ; e. 
DESCRIPTION. 
—The eggs, as laid upon the wheat, are scarcely more than 
redth of an inch in length, about one-sixth as thick as long, 
ng oval form, very nearly cylindrical, with rounded ends, 
surface is smooth and shining, and they are almost colorless- 
with a faint tinge of pale red. When several are together, 
ass, they appear of a deeper reddish yellow color. 
j —The larvae are, at first, less than a hundredth of an inch 
ssembling the egg closely, from which, however, they may be 
y distinguished by the fine transverse lines separating the 
ts. When under examination the larva is usually quiescent 
placed in water, when it immediately awakes from its seern- 
ep. When wet and in motion (alternate contraction and 
ion) several parts of its structure not perceptible before are 
visible. 
juiescent larva is about three times as long as broad, meas- 
i)8 in. by .03 in., and is oval, thickest in the middle and slightly 
l in each direction, the ends being rounded or but faintly 
i -pointed. It is slightly depressed and on the under side very 
bly flattened, but with no indications of feet. Its surface is 
y granular, like that of the common earth worm of our gar- 
: ad also appears to be slightly coated over with a glutinous 
a, whereby it adheres to a needle which touches it, and often 
vo or more worms are placed in contact they in dying be- 
I .ued to each other. Its joints are indicated by very fine im- 
