RED MAGGOT. 
33 
Some of the specimens of the Alopecurus grubs were furnished with 
a lunate process, which appears to me similar in characteristic shape 
as shown at fig. 3 ; some with a more pointed form figured at 1 ; and 
in some the process was wanting. 
From this I infer that the Red Maggots were of various kinds, 
some of them the larvae of C. tritici , but they were apparently alike in 
their habits; and this view was confirmed by observation of insects in 
their complete state—the Wheat or Grass Midges of the Meadow Fox¬ 
tail Grasses—forwarded later in the season by Mr. Edmund Baillie, 
also from the neighbourhood of Chester. 
Mr. Edmund Baillie’s communications on the subject of the 
Alopecurus Bed Maggot began on May 8th, when he mentioned that in 
the course of an examination of a sample of seed of the Foxtail 
Grass a few years previously he found many of these seeds contained 
this small yellow maggot, which was, after microscopic examination, 
identified as the larva of a Cecidomyia , and considered to be that of 
C. tritici ,—that is to say, was considered to be the common Red Maggot 
of the Wheat Midge. 
Pursuing the subject as to date and amount of the appearance of 
the midges on the Foxtail flowers, Mr. Baillie wrote, on June 10th :— 
“ I had an hour with the Foxtail Grasses this evening, and send some 
of the midges. On this evening they were noticeable in great numbers ; 
‘ I could have got hundreds.’” 
On June 25th Mr. Baillie spent from six to eight in the evening in 
the meadow :—“I lay down amongst the grasses and carefully examined 
the lower lying foliage leaves, gently disturbing the stalks about me. 
I then found a number of the midges amongst the grasses,—tried for 
two hours to catch them, but could not get one ! ” 
At 10*30 p.m. Mr. Baillie secured a few specimens. The following 
morning (June 26th), at 5 a.m., he only secured two, but again in the 
evening they were plentiful. “ This evening I renewed my search, 
and was successful in finding them in abundance. I watched their 
habits closely for a time. I find they rise from the lower leaves, fly about 
until they rest either upon the head or upon the stalk of an inviting grass; 
invariably, so far as I see Alopecurus. One alighted upon the stalk, 
ran rapidly up it until it reached the head, and there remained 
contentedly.” 
This account of the habits precisely agrees with that given by Mr. 
Kirby (‘ Transactions of the Linnean Society,’ vol. v.) of the habits of 
the Wheat Midge, in which he mentions that the midges “ were seldom 
to be seen much before seven o’clock, at eight the field appeared to swarm 
with them; but, though so numerous in the evening, not one was to 
be found on the wing in the morning.” They do not, however, then 
quit the field which is the scene of their employment, for upon 
D 
