Hessian Fly

a fly the larva of which is very destructive to wheat, bar. ley, and rye crops (it does not attack oats). It is so named from the belie! that it was brought over to Americe by the He ian mercenaries —s the Revolutionary War. The female fly is about 44 inch in length, with a wing expanse of about 44 inch. Its body is brown, with the upper parts, the thorax, and the head of a darker shade, approaching to black. The wings are of a dusky gray, and are surrounded with fringes. The male is somewha smaller than the female and has longer antenne. The female flies usually lay their eggs on the young plants twice in the year, in May and September, out of which eggs the maggots hatch in from 4 to 14 days. These work themselves in _between the leaf-sheath and the stem, and fix themselves near the lowest joints, often near the -root, and suck the juices the stem, so that the ear falls down at a sharp angle. These maggots turn to pups, from which the flies develop in about 10 days. It has long been a pest in the United States and Germany.