New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 293 



THE ASPAEAGUS MINER. 



history. 



This fly has been known to collectors for a number of years, 

 but as far as can be learned, what it feeds upon has not, hitherto, 

 been ascertained, or its life history worked out. In 1897 Mr. 

 Chittenden^ of the Division of Entomology, Washington, D. C, 

 reported collecting it on asparagus and suggested that it might 

 feed upon that plant. The only species of fly reported in Euro- 

 pean literature a® infesting the asparagus plant is a species of 

 Ortalis^ known as the " asparagus-fly," the maggots of which 

 burrow into the stalk of the asparagus aud work downward to 

 the root. 



description. 



As the adult fly has already been described in works on diptera 

 only a general description is given here. 



Adult. — The adult is a small, metallic-black flv, 3 to 4 mm. 

 long (about one-sixth inch) and rather broad as compared with 

 its length; it is usually found resting upon flowers and branchlets 

 of asparagus and especially on plants that have been gnawed or 

 eaten by the asparagus beetle. A modified camera lucida draw- 

 ing of this fly is shown on Plate XLVII, Fig. 1. 



E(/g. — The eggs have not been found. 



Larva. — The larvae or maggots are about 5 mm. long, some- 

 what flattened and of a white or transparent-white color. It is 

 found only beneath the epidermis near base of asparagus plants. 

 Fig. 2, Plate XLVII is a greatly enlarged drawing of the larva, 

 giving a side view. The black rasp-like jaw or proboscis is shown 

 at r, the cephalic and caudal spiracles are shown at s, s. 



Piiparium. — The puparium, or resting stage, of this miner 

 resembles the " flax-seed " stage of the " Hessian fly." The 



^U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Ent. Bui. 10, n. s. 



^Plati/parea poccilloptera Schrauk {Ortalis fulminans Mg.) J. BJJttner. 

 Praktiselaes Lebrbuch des Spargel-baus. Frankfurt a. Oder: Trowitzsch u. 

 Solm, 1S97, p. 100. Trijpeta fiilmliuins, E. II. Meyer in Braunschw. Laudw. 

 Ztg., 65 (1807): No. 3, pp. 9-10. 



