THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 73 



GROUND ALFALFA. 



Alfalfa meal is a new product that gives good promise. It is a very 

 A'aliiable nutritious food, and the grinding utilizes the leaves, stems and 

 all and very likely makes all more digestible. It is said that when 

 ground it is one fourtjj more valuable for feeding lambs. It is even 

 suggested that this may become a valuable h\;man food. Certainly 

 strange things have happened over and over. Why not this? 



THE LARGE NARCISSUS BULB FLY. 



(Mcrodon equcstris, Fab.) 



Order — Diptera. Family — Syrphidae. 



By Lerot Childs, Assistant Secretary, State Commission of Horticulture. 



Among the many interesting insects that this office is continually 

 receiving is one, a bulb fly from Sutter County, the larvae of which were 

 taken living in and destroying the bulbs of narcissiLS. The fly belongs 

 to the family Syrp]iid(c, a group which is for the most part decidedly 

 beneficial in that the larva^. during their development, feed predaciously 

 upon many small soft bodied injurious insects, the most prominent of 

 which are the plant-lice or aphids. 



The bulb fly has also been taken by Mr. B. B. Whitne}' at San Rafael, 

 California, where he reports it living in the bulbs of Amaryllis. The 

 material that was taken in this locality was forwarded to Prof. J. M. 

 Aldrich from whom a determination was obtained together with some 

 other interesting information relative to this species. The following 

 quotations are taken from the letter of Prof. Aldrieh to ]\Ir. Whitney: 



"The fly you sent is Merodon equestris Fabr., a well-known enemy 

 of the Narcissus and allied plants in Europe. It has-been imported 

 in bulbs from Holland probably many times, and has thus made its 

 appearance occasionally in the East; it is also reported from 

 British Columbia by Osburn (Canadian Entomologist XL-10), who 

 says it occurs so widely there that he believes that it must be native. 

 * * * I do not find that the insect has been treated from the 

 economic standpoint in American publications, or only to the extent 

 of mentioning the habit. * * * There are no records of the western 

 occurrence of the species except in British Columbia as cited." 



The native habitat of Merodon equestris, as this bulb fly is called, is 

 Southern Europe, from where, fclloAving the plantings of its favorite 

 food, tlie bulbs, it gradually spread into England and Northern Europe, 

 and later to other continents where it is now known to occur in the 

 Americas and New Zealand. 



In Europe this species has inflicted at various times considerable 

 damage, often reducing very appreciably the profits of the bulb dealers 

 and growers, to say nothing of the destruction of lilies in the gardens. 

 So far as is known the pest has never been reported occurring in alarm- 

 ing numbers in the United States, and exceedingly little is known rela- 

 tive to its distribution. 



The larva of the grub feeds vigorouslj^ upon the soft interior scales 

 of the bulbs, completely hollowing out the centers, in many instances a 

 thin shell only remaining (Fig. 18). The maggot does not always 

 totallv destrov the bulb, and occasionallv infested bulbs will grow and 



