185 



roofing paper should be laid upon the floor, at least around the edges. 

 The edges of the carpet should be lifted occasionally and examined 

 for the presence of the insect. Later in the season, if the insect has 

 made its appearance, it may be killed by laying a damp cloth on that 

 particular part of the carpet and ironing it \Adth a hot iron. The 

 steam thus generated will pass through the carpet and kill the insects 

 immediately beneath it. Fumigation with bisulphide of carbon is an 

 efEective remedy against A. scrophulariae, and hydrocyanic acid gas 

 is even more effectual. The fumes of burning sulphur will also kill 

 it if the fumigation is thorough. A general adoption of rugs or squares 

 of carpet, which may be readily examined and treated, will permit of 

 the pest being dealt with without delay. 



Urbahns (T. D.). The chalcis-fly in alfalfa seed. — U.S. Dept. Agric, 

 Washington, D.C., Farmers' Bull. no. 636, 31st December 1914, 

 10 pp., 10 figs. 



Bruchophagus funehris, How. (the clover-seed chalcis-fly), generally 

 called the alfalfa-seed chalcis-fly in the United States, has been 

 increasing very rapidly there, causing a large annual loss and even 

 threatening the production of lucerne seed in some localities [see this 

 Review, Ser. A, i, p. 180]. The eggs of this insect are so small as to 

 be invisible to the naked eye, and are deposited through the soft green 

 seed-pods directly into the seeds. Under field conditions, oviposition 

 usually takes place when the pods are about half grown. The time 

 required for the eggs to hatch varies greatly. Under favourable 

 temperatures, the larvae begin feeding in about a week after the 

 eggs have been deposited. They feed within the tender growing 

 seeds, and before the pods have had time to ripen, most of them are 

 full-grown. When there is sufficient moisture remaining in the seed- 

 pods, most of the larvae at once transform to the pupal stage, but if 

 the seeds become thoroughly dry before the larvae enter the pupal 

 stage, this trauvsformation may be delayed indefinitely and the larvae 

 remain dormant until the following spring or until both moisture and 

 temperature are favourable. The pupal stage may last from 10 to 40 

 days, all the stages of development being completed within the infested 

 seeds. The adults immediately eat their way out through the shells 

 of the infested seeds and then through the seed-pods. They may be 

 seen in great numbers when the crop is being cut and are often taken 

 for gnats. Although most active in hot weather, the adults seek shade 

 in the heat of the day. They apparently visit the lucerne blossoms to 

 seek food, and in normal weather five several weeks. Hibernation 

 takes place in the larval stage. By far the greater number may be 

 found in the seeds on neglected fields and along fences and ditch banks. 

 Screenings around the lucerne straw stacks and the seed of Medicago 

 hispida (bur clover) conceal many of the larvae. The insect probably 

 occurs throughout the United States ; injury from it has been observed 

 in cultivated lucerne seed from Germany, Turkestan and Chile, and 

 in both the cultivated and uncultivated varieties of seed from Turkey 

 and Siberia. The injury is entirely confined to clover, bur clover, and 

 lucerne. The infested seeds which still contain the Uving larvae may 



(C144) c 



