30 



MANUAL OF VEGETABLE-GARDEN INSECTS 



stripes are less distinct than in the male. This species is dis- 

 tinguished from its near relatives by the presence, in the male 

 fly, of a small tuft of bristles on the underside of the base of 

 the hind femur (Fig. 26 A). As yet no one has discovered any 



characters by which the 

 females can be distin- 

 guished from those of the 

 seed-corn maggot. The 

 female deposits her small 

 white eggs at the base of 

 the plant, carefidly tucking 

 them down between the 

 soil and the stem. Some- 

 times the eggs are attached 

 to the stem above ground. 

 The egg is slightly over -^^ 

 inch in length, elongate, 

 bluntly rounded behind 

 and pointed and flattened 

 anteriorly, whitish in color, 

 longitudinally striate and 

 deeply grooved on one side. 

 The eggs hatch in four to 

 ten days depending on the 

 weather. On hatching, the 

 young maggot works its 

 way along the main root, 

 on which it feeds by rasp- 

 ing out a channel in the 

 surface. The maggots first 

 attack the tender rootlets and then burrow into the main root 

 where they may be found in slimy burrows just under the bark. 

 They are sometimes seen in the stem above ground and even 

 in the midrib of the leaves. Usually the first indication that 



Fig. 26. — The femur and til)ia of the hind 

 leg of the male fly of: A, cabbage root- 

 maggot; B, onion maggot; C, seed-corn 

 maggot. 



