Oliver Hines, age 12, of Bowling Green, Ohio, for his question:

WHERE DID THE HESSIAN FLY COME FROM?

Now common in the United States and Canada is the Hessian fly, which probably came to North America from southern Russia about 200 years ago. It is called Hessian fly because people once believed that it was brought to America in the bedding of Hessian troops during the Revolutionary War.

The larva or maggot attacks wheat crops. In some years, the Hessian fly destroys 10 percent of the wheat crop in the U.S. and Canada.

The adult Hessian fly is about an eighth of an inch long. It has a dark brown body and dusky gray wings.

Twice a year the female lays from 250 to 300 tiny, pale red eggs. She deposits them on a wheat leaf or stalk. In about five days, whitish maggots hatch and crawl down between the leaf sheath and the stem.

Hessian fly maggots suck juice from the wheat stems.