PEAR GNAT MIDGE. 123 



in some of the Cecidomyiae larvpe) as the "anchor process," 

 beneath the fore part of the body near the head end. In the 

 Pear gnat-maggot this process consists of a narrow stalk 

 attached at its base to one of the segments of the Httle larva, 

 and pointing forward at the free end, which is enlarged to 

 nearly twice the width of the stem, and slightly notched at 

 the flattened or convex end. The anchor process is of a 

 horny texture, and brownish or pink in colour. 



The maggots have a wonderful power of jumping by bending 

 so that head and tail meet, and then taking skips in all 

 directions, a habit which is very noticeable if they chance to 

 be under examination on a coloured tablecloth. 



Within the young Pears the growing Cccidomyia maggots 

 live and feed till they have attained their full size. This will 

 be somewhere about the beginning or middle of June, by 

 which time much of the inside of the little Pears will have 

 become black and decayed, consequently on their ravages, and 

 the fruit stunted in growth, and probably cracked. The in- 

 fested Pears may often be known by their knobbed irregular 

 growth, but not always ; some that I have had have not 

 shown characteristic damage outside ; also the size that they 

 may grow to varies. In the eight figures now before me, 

 given in the paper by Prof. John Smith on this infestation, 

 none of the Pears are as much as an inch long, but they may 

 reach as much as one or two inches in length. 



At this stage the Pears crack or fall to the ground, and the 

 maggots leave the fruit by way of the open cracks if it 

 remains on the tree, or if it falls without cracking, may 

 remain for some weeks within. In either case they bury 

 themselves in the ground, and (quoting again from Prof. J. 

 B. Smith as, I believe, our most recent observer) go down to 

 a depth " varying somewhat with the condition of the soil, 

 from one-half to two inches, and there they lie for some time 

 unchanged. About midsummer the larvae make oval cocoons 

 of silk covered with grains of sand, and in these they lie un- 

 changed until early spring." — (J. B. S.). There appears to be 

 a difference in date of time of the maggots forming cocoons, 

 and turning to pupal or chrysalis state within them, possibly 

 from not being in quite natural circumstances ; but in regular 

 course, whatever the exact date of pupation may be, the gnat- 

 midges come up out of the ground in spring ready to attack 

 the blossom -buds of the Pear, 



During the present year (1898) the attack, judging by 

 amount of enquiries sent, appears to be more than usually 

 prevalent ; and about the 28th of May, whilst these notes 

 were passing through press, I received specimens and some 

 observations of a remarkably bad attack in the neighbourhood 



