24 



cumbs till after it has sp'in up and become a chrysalis, for I have always obtained the 

 ichneumon from the chrysalis. The other parasites are smaller and work differently. 

 They cause the larva of the Smeared Dagger to die when about full grown, and its con- 

 tracted and hardened skin, which may often be seen during winter, with the head attached, 

 fastened to the twigs of apple and willow trees, forms a snug little house, where the para- 

 site undergoes his transformations, and through which it gnaws a round hole to escape 

 the latter part of April. One of these flies {Aleiodes lideyi, Cresson) is of a uniform red- 

 dish yellow colour. The other is a black fly of about the same size, but belonging to an 

 entirely different genus, Poli/sjihincta." 



The only artificial remedy which has been recommended is that of hand-picking. 



1 0. The Stawberry Falseworm, {Emphytus maculatus, Norton). 



This insect, although it has not j'et been observed in Canada, will very probably be 

 with us before long. It has been common in the adjoining Western States for some time 

 past, and as the perfect insect is winged, and during the hotter portion of the day quite 

 active, and since the strawberry now is so widely cultivated, there is nothing to hinder 

 the spread of this destructive insect, the habits of which it will be well for us to fully under- 

 stand, so that we may know how to treat the enemy on its first Tippearance. We know 

 that a near relative of this insect, the gooseberry saw-fly {Ncmalus ventrkosus) has spread 

 in a short time over a large section of our Province. Since we have had no personal ex- 

 perience with this foe to the strawberry grower, we shall avail ourselves of an excellent 

 description of its life, history and habits, written by Mr. C. Y. Riley, of St. Louis, Mo., 

 and pdblished in the first volume of the " American Entomologist," p. 90. 



The adjoining Figure 14, drawn from 

 nature by Air. Riley, admirably illustrates 

 tills insect in its various stages. 1 shows 

 the under side of the pupa or chrysalis. 

 2, a side view of the same. 3, an enlarged 

 view of the perfect fly, showing the ar- 

 rangement of the veins of its wings. 4, 

 the larva or worm crawling. 5, the perfect 

 fly of natural size. G, the larva at rest. 

 7, the cocoon. 8, one of the antennae of the 

 insect enlarged, showing the joiats. 9, an 

 enlarged egg of this in.sect. The fly belongs 

 to the order Hymcnoptera, and is known in 

 ]iopular language as one of the saw-flies. 

 The larva is a soft dirty yellow worm, 

 which feeds externally on the leaf of the 

 strawberry. It is a little more than six- 

 Its head is of a more decided yellow colour 

 than the rest of its body, and usually has a dark brown spot above, one nearly of the 

 same size at the upper front, and two rather smaller ones at each side, joined by a brown 

 line. It has twenty-two legs. 



" The parent flies may be seen hanging to and flying around strawberry vines about 

 the beginning of May, in North Illinois, Iowa and Michigan, in all three of which Stales 

 we know them to occur. They are dull and inactive in the cool of the morning and 

 evening, and at these hours are seldom noticed. They arc of a pitchy black colour, with 

 two rows of large transverse dull whitish spots upon the abdomen. The female, with 

 the saw-like instrument peculiar to the insects of the great family {Tenihrcdinidce) to 

 which she belongs, deposits her eggs by a most curious and interesting proce.ss, in the 

 stems of the plants, clinging the while to the hairy substance with which these stems are 

 covered. The eggs are white, r)paque and 0-03 of an inch long, and may be readily per- 

 ceived upon s])litting the stalk, though the outside orifice at which they were introduced 

 is scarcely visible. They soon increase somewhat in bulk, causing a swelling of the stalk, 

 and hatch in two weeks — more or less, according to the temperature — and from thfe mid- 



tenths of an inch long when full grown. 



