l8 NEW YORK STATK MUSEUM 



Icwish; claws lonq-, slender, evenly curved, the jnilvilli as lonq- as 

 the claws. Genitalia; basal clasp segiiicnt stout, truncate; terminal 

 clasp segment rather stout, slightly tapering; dorsal plate short, 

 deeply and triangularly cmarginate, the lobes diverging, obliquely 

 truncate and s])arsely setose; ventral plate long, very deeply and 

 roundly emarginate, the lobes long, slender, with a few coarse 

 setae at the narrowly rounded apex; style short, stout. 



Fctiialc. Length 1.5 mm. Antennae nearly as long as the body, 

 rather thickly haired, fuscous yellowish, yellowish basally ; 14 seg- 

 ments, the third greatly produced, with a length six times its 

 diameter, the fifth subsessile, cylindric, with a length two and one 

 half times its diameter, slightly constricted near the basal third, 

 subbasal and subapical whorls rather thick, short, strongly curved; 

 terminal segment somewhat produced, the apical fourth forming 

 a broadly rounded knob. Mesonotum fuscous yellowish, the sub- 

 median lines sparsely haired. Scutellum and postscutellum fus- 

 cous yellowish. Abdomen a little lighter, the distal segments 

 slightly fuscous. Halteres pale yellowish. Coxae, femora and 

 tibiae mostly pale straw, the anterior and midtarsi fuscous yellow- 

 ish, the posterior larsi apparently pale yellowish. Ovipositor nearly 

 as long as the body, the terminal lobes with a length six times 

 their width, very slender, subacute apically and with a few coarse 

 setae. 



Life history. The delicate parent midges undoubtedly appear 

 with the unfolding of the blossom buds or soon after, and the 

 female deposits 7 to 10 or more eggs. These hatch quickly, 

 the maggots develop rapidly and become full grown at about 

 blossoming time. Infested blossom buds were very abundant in 

 vineyards June 11, 1908, while a week or 10 days later the insects 

 had practically disappeared. This indicates clearly that the period 

 of larval existence is very short. The maggots or larvae either 

 drop from the infested bud or fall with it and seek shelter in the 

 ground, remaining in an earthen cocoon during the rest of the sea- 

 son and transforming to pupae the following spring. The few 

 adults reared by us under artificial conditions appeared April 30, 

 1909. It is probable that those hibernating in the field do not 

 emerge till much later, namely, early in June before the grapes 

 are in bloom. There appears to be no reason for believing that 

 this insect can subsist upon other vines than grape, unless it be the 

 allied Virginia creeper. The extent of injury is undoubtedly in- 

 fluenced greatly by the time the midges appear, since if they fly in 

 large numbers just as the blossom buds appear and the latter are 

 therefore in a favorable condition for infestation, there is likely to 

 le much more serious injury. This is probably the explanation of 



