1917 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 121 



garden liad been injured, (sec lig. 4, page 117). The following sunuuer the pest 

 was again present in the same garden and Mr. W. A. Ross, Field Ollieei' of the 

 Branch, obtained infested material and reared the adults. Some of the latter 

 were forwarded to Dr. Felt who confirmed the determination of the insect. Re- 

 garding the injury, Mr. Koss reported: "All 'Hybrid Perpetuals ' and 'Hybrid 

 Teas ' are sul)ject to attack. Mrs. Jolm Laing is apparently the most susceptible 

 variety. II. T*s with strong tcrtuijuil shoots lii^o those of Killarney are partially 

 immune. All the Polyantha, Bourbons, Hybrid China, Noisette and Wichuraiana 

 roses appear to be immune." 



The only other outbreak of tlie insect in Canada is its occurrence at the present 

 time (autumn of 1916) in the greenhouses of Miller & Sons, Toronto. Its work 

 was first noticed in these latter houses in September (1916). The buds of the 

 young shoots did not develop and on investigation it was found that they were 

 being destroyed by the larva?. The varieties of roses which have been severely 

 injured in tlic Toronto greenhouses are Ophelia, Milady and Stanley. The variety 

 Eichmond was very sliglitly attacked. Mr. Miller is of the opinion that the pest 

 was introduced on rose bushes imported from Chicago, 111. 



The first record of the Rose Midge in America w'as in 1886' when it was dis- 

 covered to. be effecting injury to greenhouse roses in the State of laiew Jersey. It 

 w^as not until 1900, however, that the insect was described by Coquillett as 

 Neocerata rliodophaaa.'' Since 188G the midge has been reported from New York, 

 District of Columbia, Massachusetts and Illinois. 



As tiie Rose Midge is one of the worst known pests of roses, florists in Canada 

 should realize the danger of its being introduced into their houses. The Entomo- 

 logical Branch will gladly assist growers in any way it can, and will appreciate 

 the receipt of injured plants and information as to suspected occurrence of this 

 insect. It has lieen recorded that in a single year in two greenliouses in Chicago 

 the Rose Midge has caused damage estimated at $10,000. 



Life-history. 



But few observations have as yet been made in Canada on the life-hi;-tory of 

 the insect. In the State of Illinois its life-history was studied by the late F. M. 

 Webster, and his observations were published in 1904^ Davis' has also investigated 

 the habits of the insect. 



The perfect insect, or midge, is two-xnnged and is closely related to the 

 Chrysanthemum Midge. The female deposits its yellowish &gg^, which are so small 

 as to be hardly visible to the naked eye, beneath the sepals of the flower buds or 

 between the folded leaves of the leaf buds. The egg period is recorded as being 

 only two days. When the young, whitish, maggots hatch they at once begin to 

 destroy the terminal leaves and the blossom buds, and in from about Ave to seven 

 days they becpme mature and then leave the plant, (fig. 3, page 117), dropping 

 to the soil where they change to the pupal state. Webster has observed as many as 

 twenty-five larvae in a single blossom bud. Davis states that in summer the fly 

 emerges about six days after pupation occurs. In greenhouses in Chicago the 

 insect has been present from June until October or November in such numbers as 

 to make it impossible to secure a single crop of flowers. During the colder winter 

 months it is assumed that the insect is present in the pupal stage in the green- 

 house soil. 



^Insect Life, 1. 284. 



"Bull. 22, N.S., Div. of Ent.. U.S., Dept. Agr.. 47. 



'Bull. Illinois State I.a.b. of Nat. Hist., Vol. VII. pp. 15-25. 



*27th Rep. State Ent., Illinois, 1912. 



