190 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 



THE OCCURRENCE OF EUMERUS STRIGATUS FLN. IN 



CANADA. 



BY ARTHUR GIBSON, ENTOMOLOGICAL BRANCH, DEPARTMENT OF 



AGRICULTURE, OTTAWA. 



In the Entomological Record for 1915^ a record of this species 

 is included, namel}': "Victoria, B. C, reared from narcissus bulbs, 

 April 7—9, 1910, (E. A. Wallace)." In the Record for 1916'-, 

 the occurrence of the species at Ottawa, Ont. (August, 19, 1904, 

 Fletcher) is mentioned. Recently we received a specimen of 

 Eumerus strigatus from Montreal, Que., which was collected in a 

 greenhouse, on Feb. 5, 1917, by Mr. J. I. Beaulne. In October, 

 1910, Dr. Hewitt, found the larvae abundant in the greenhouse 

 of Mr. E. A. Wallace, Victoria, B. C. 



This European insect which has been recorded as a pest of 

 onions, shallot, roots of Iris and bulbs of narcissus, hyacinth and 

 Amaryllis, has been referred to in economic literature as the 

 Bulb Moon-fly, the Lunate Onion Fly and the Small Narcissus 

 Bulb Fly. Felt^ first recorded the species from America from 

 specimens reared in New York State from the roots of Iris, and 

 referred to the fact that Dr. F. H. Chittenden had informed him 

 that the fly was reared in the Bureau of Entomology at Wash- 

 ington, in 1906. The taking of a specimen at Ottawa in 1904, 

 however, by the late Dr. Fletcher, is evidently the first record of 

 the occurrence of the species in America. 



Emerus strigatus is now widely distributed in North America, 

 having been found in the United States in the States of Califor- 

 nia, Texas, Connecticut and New York, and in Canada in the 

 provinces of Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. 



Theobald^ has found as many as 17 larvae of the species in 

 one bulb and states that "there is no doubt that these small nar- 

 cissus and other bulb flies are the cause of much loss, but are not, 

 it seems, so widely spread as Merodon; still the number one finds 



H6th Annual Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario. 

 *47th Annual Report of the Entomological Society of Ontario. 

 ^New York State Museum, 27th Report of the State Entomologist, 1911. 

 * Report on Economic Zoology for year ending Sept. 30, 1911. 

 June, 1917. 



