REPORT OF TEE ENTOMOLOGIiiT AXD BOTAMST 205 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



CEREALS. 



Grain crops on the whole were fairly good in all parts of the Dominion in 1907, 

 and there were very few complaints of injury by the ordinary pests of the staple 

 grains. In the Northwest Territories a rather extensive outbreak of the Red-backed 

 Cutworm and some allied species, was the cause of serious loss, not only in grain 

 crops, but in all garden vegetables and root crops. There was no complaint of injury 

 by grasshoppers, Hessian Fly or the Greater Wheat-stem Maggot. In British Columbia 

 the Wheat Midge reduced considerably the small crop of wheat in the fertile districts 

 of the Fraser river valley and the adjoining districts. In Prince Edward Island the 

 Joint-worm did much harm to wheat, and there was a noticeable occurrence, al- 

 though not very severe, of Hessian Fly. 



Injurij to Fall Wheat hy Biho gracilis, Whr. — An interesting injury to fall 

 wheat in Alberta was by the larvae of a fly belonging to the family known as Spring 

 Flics, or March Flies, so called from the fact that they occur in large numbers for 

 a few days in spring, when they arc very conspicuous from their sluggish habits. 

 The mature flies are of about the same size, or a little larger, than the common 

 House Fly, with slender black and hairy bodies. They fly slowly and settle in 

 large numbers in low shrubs and other vegetation. The common species Bihio 

 olhipennis. Say, occurs widely throughout the country and is frequently sent in 

 nnder the supposition that it may be injurious. As far as can be learnt, however, 

 the brown tough-skinned larva*, with short fleshy spines or processes along the sides, 

 do little harm, although they are known occasionally to feed on the roots of grasses 

 and grain. Kellogg states in his "' American Insects ' that they ' may do serious dam- 

 age, and Bihio tristis, Will., discovered in Kansas in 1891, appeared in great numbers 

 in wheat fields and frightened many wheat growers.' The larvse of the common White- 

 winged March Fly, Bihio alhipennis. Say, are sometimes found in very large numbers 

 at the roots of grasses or in manure that has been ploughed down the year before and 

 has become almost disintegrated. It is very seldom that injury of any kind is attribut- 

 able to the larvse of these flies; but in August last, Mr. D. K. Husband wrote from 

 Carstairs. Alta.. that he had sown good seed of fall wheat, from the previous year's 

 crop, which had not been treated in any way for the prevention of smut or otlier 

 fungous diseases, whereby it might have been injured, but that it failed to germinate 

 evenly, and very little came up. On examining the field to discover the reason, he 

 found that the central portion of most of the grain had been eaten out by the larva; 

 of a species of Bibio which was afterwards kindiv identified for me by Mr. T). W. 

 Coquillett. as Bihio gracilis, "Wlir. The larva? ate the heart out of the grain, and tlicre 

 were from three to seven found at each grain. In view of the importance of the fall 

 wheat crop in the Province of Alberta, it seem.s well to draw^ attention to this insect, 

 although it is hardly likely that it will develop into a regularly occurring or serious 

 pest of the wheat grower. 



Mr. Husband writes as follows : — 



Carstairs. Alta., September 18, 1906. — ' I have never previously known of such 

 an outbreak nor have any of the older and most successful growers in this neighbour- 



