30 
CORN. 
appeared to be very little insect-presence, nor did it appear to be of 
any use; it was formerly got rid of by being floated away down the 
river, until river regulations prevented this method of destruction. 
In the screenings I found many granary weevils, besides other 
beetles, and in the rubble a good many lumps of grain, spun together 
by granary moth-caterpillars. Besides these there were in some of 
the samples short lengths of straw, which were quite long enough to 
convey the “joint-worm,” one of the worst American corn-pests, and 
likewise there was the dangerous fungus “ Ergot,” which is objection¬ 
able as poultry-food, or as being thrown where it can be carried on the 
land. The various kinds of grain-beetles infesting corn and other 
stores is an old trouble, but the presence of bits of straw in which the 
“joint-worm” or maggot of the Isosonia ho7'dei may perfectly easily 
be imported into this country is an evil which (as apparently there is 
no way of preventing the matter) it is as well to give timely warning 
of, and I therefore quote below some abstracts from the account given 
of this attack in the Eeport of the Entomological Society of Ontario 
for 1872, prepared by the Kev. J. S. Bethune, President of the Society. 
Joint-worm fly and maggot, magnified, with nat. length. Galls on wheat-stems 
caused by joint-worm. After figures in paper quoted above. 
This attack occurs to wheat, rye, and barley, and is known as that 
of the “joint-worm,” by reason of the maggots feeding within the 
corn-stems, generally above the first or second joint. The female fly 
inserts her egg into the straw with her long ovipositor, and places one 
egg after another till laying is completed. This was observed about 
the 10th of June. The eggs soon hatch, and the maggots, which are 
footless, but furnished with jaws, begin to feed. Swellings or galls 
form above the joints in consequence of the presence of the maggots 
within, but, as these are wrapped in the sheathing-leaves, they are 
not observable until the leaves have been stripped away (see figure). 
