58 



THE EEPOKT OF THE 



No. 36 



The seed corn or bean maggot {Pegomya fusciceps) has been known for years 

 3& a destructive pest of seed corn and of beans. In the Entomological Society Re- 

 port of 1900 Professor Loclihead mentions this pest among the insects of the year 

 as doing serious harm to beans in Lambton County, Ontario. In Kent County, 

 according to the reports received by the writer from the bean growers, it is by 

 far the most serious insect pest of beans. Up to the present time the growers have 

 apparently not known exactly what it was, nor have they had any exact knowledge 

 of its life history, habits, or measures for its control. A brief account of these is, 

 therefore, given here. 



•Fig. 



The 



Bean-Fly 

 maggot, 



■(a) adult fly, 

 (d) egg. — After 



( b ) pupa 

 Lugger. 



case, (c) 



4 



Description. — The parent fly of the bean maggot looks very much like a ' 

 small house fly. The maggots are white or yellowish white in color, footless, cylin- 

 drical in form, tapering towards the head, and about one-third of an inch in length. 

 The puparia are light brown, barrel-shaped or elliptical in outline and about one- 

 fourth of an inch in length. 



Life-history. — It is thought that this insect passes the winter as the fly or 

 pupa. In the spring the flies lay their eggs on decaying matter in the soil, and, 

 when the maggots hatch,^hey find their way to the seed beans or seedling plants. 



