HESSIAN FLY. 
33 
straw from Urquhart, Morayshire. So far the ravages are not exten¬ 
sive, not more than one straw in fifty being affected, and on these the 
grain is of fair quality.” .... “In Aberdeenshire, Barley and a 
little Rye, besides Oats, are the only grain crops grown.” .... “If 
the ‘ fly,’ does much damage in the future it may be necessary, if 
Barley is to be grown at all, that it be sown as a second white or grain 
crop, without seeds, and the stubble ploughed down as soon as the crop 
is removed.” . . . . “ PS. I might have mentioned that I find a good 
many of the pupa-cases empty, showing that the perfect insect has 
already emerged.” 
August 26th. Mr. Robert Ironside sent me joints of Barley-straw, 
infested by Hessian Fly from Auchlassan Lumphanan, by Aberdeen, 
with the remark that, seeing many of the stalks kneed, he had 
examined and found the so-called “flax-seed,” and likewise that he 
was “ at a loss to know how it could have come there, as there was no 
foreign straw used, that he knew of, near the place.” 
Observations of Attack in the South-east of Scotland 
during September, 1887. 
On September 1st I was favoured, by Mr. Malcolm Dunn, of Dalkeith , 
with the following observations, which are particularly valuable from 
Mr. Dunn's knowledge of insect-life and great accuracy and skill in observa¬ 
tion, which have been much assistance to me noiv for many years ; and I 
would particularly advise study of these notes, for they appear to me to give, 
in condensed form (that is, in the observations of one district), no bad idea 
of what the nature of the Hessian Fly attack has been in the infested part 
of the country at large. — Ed. 
Mr. Dunn wrote as follows:— 
“ I duly received your letter of the 16th ult., and I have delayed 
replying till I should have had an opportunity of inspecting the fields 
in the district infested with the Hessian Fly in East Lothian, and also 
around this neighbourhood, to see if I could find any signs of it. I 
have gone over many fields in the district around here, extending from 
Edinburgh to Tranent in East Lothian, and from the sea at Mussel¬ 
burgh to Penicuik, and nowhere have I been able to find any indica¬ 
tion of the presence of the Hessian Fly. I have been told by several 
farmers that they ‘ had it among their corn ’! but on examining ‘ it ’ 
I always found some other insect at work (generally the Corn Fly, 
Chlorops tceniopus), but never the Hessian Fly. I am satisfied that it 
has not yet appeared in this district, or is so rare that neither I nor 
any of the keen-eyed entomologists about Edinburgh have been able 
to detect it. 
D 
