FIG. 112.—The Wheat Midge (_Cecidomyia tritici_): LI, larva in the contracted, LII, the same in the extended condition. B, a wheat flower: _a__{1} outer, _a__{2} inner glume, _b_, stamens; _c_, brush-like stigmas; _d_, ovary; _l_, larvæ of the wheat midge. LI and LII highly, B less highly, magnified. ] Male ¹⁄₂₅ inch, female (Fig. 110) ¹⁄₁₇ inch, and possessing an ovipositor which, when extended, is twice that length. Citron yellow, slightly hairy; antennæ blackish, eyes black, legs dirty yellow. In spring or early summer, the midges creep out of the soil in fields where wheat has been planted the previous year. After pairing, the females wander to fields where wheat or, more rarely, rye is growing. The attacks of the midges commence when the ears begin to emerge from the leaf-sheaths, and are continued throughout the flowering time of the wheat. At night the female pierces the glumes with her ovipositor, and lays three to ten perfectly transparent eggs in each flower. Each midge lays eggs in several flowers, but two or more midges may use the same flower for this purpose, so that as many as thirty maggots may be found in one bloom (Fig. 112). The maggots, which are hatched out in a week, creep down to the ovary and suck its juices. If many maggots live in one flower it is sure to die, but if there are only a few it may produce a grain, though this may be small. Ears infested by the maggots develop yellow spots later on; many ears remain quite empty, and consequently thin and upright. Full-grown maggot: ⅛ inch; straw yellow to chrome yellow; quite transparent when very young. Is fully developed in three weeks, and then lets itself fall to the ground (July or August). Becomes a pupa the following spring; fourteen days later the midge escapes. Family: =Rostratæ= (_Crane Flies_, _Daddy Longlegs_). [Illustration: FIG. 113.—The Daddy Longlegs, or Common Crane Fly (_Tipula oleracea_). Left, the male and the maggot; right, the female and the pupa. ]