5o6 Bulletin 78. 



the spring will depend somewhat upon climatic conditions, lati- 

 tude, and the locality. This year they appeared on Long 

 Island in the latter part of April and during the first week in 

 May. The cabbage plants were set about April 18, somewhat 

 later than usual, gardeners said. Sometimes the pest has appeared 

 early enough to attack plants before they are removed from the 

 seed beds. 



In 1826, Meigen said the flies were common in the spring on 

 the blossoms — the familiar "pussies" — of willows. Doubtless 

 further observations on this point will show that they frequent any 

 other blossoms that are accessible so early in the spring. 



Mr. Fletcher seems to have more closely observed the habits of 

 the flies about cabbage plants than anyone. He says, "The 

 females will spend a good deal of time running over the earth and 

 trying to find some crevice " in which to oviposit. 



If gardeners who are troubled with this pest will closely watch 

 their plants for a few days after setting out, they cannot fail to 

 observe these little flies, resembling house-flies but smaller, on 

 and around the plants. If the flies seem at all numerous, the 

 grower may expect trouble from their progeny and should act 

 accordingly. Whenever the flies are seen, a day or two later the 

 next stage of the insect, the egg, may be found. 



Oviposition. — Many observers have seen the eggs and described 

 their method of oviposition, and yet, strangely enough, there is 

 hardly a clue in the literature as to what these eggs are like. In 

 laying their eggs, Mr. Fletcher says the females spend some time 

 in ' ' trying to find some crevice by which they can creep beneath 

 the surface of the soil and lay their eggs close to the stem, or they 

 will creep close up to it and push the eggs down below the surface 

 by means of their extensile ovipositor." (In figure 5, plate I, 

 this ovipositor is shown partly extended from the end of the abdo- 

 men of the female fly.) Some observers say the eggs are laid on 

 the surface of the soil ; this may happen where the soil gets 

 packed closely about the stem, leaving no crevice. 



A correspondent wrote the "Rural New Yorker " in 1887, 

 that he watched the flies carefully in the spring and found that 

 all the eggs were laid about his cauliflower plants within 4 or 5 

 days' time. They are laid one to twenty on a plant, close to the 



