THE RADISH-FLY : OTHER RADISH INSECTS. 195 



beetles, Epilrix cucumeris (Harris), and Ovchestris vittata (Fabr.), 

 are serious depredators upon the foliage, which they eat so full of 

 small holes as materially to interfere with the vigor of the plant. • A 

 small weevil has been observed by Dr. Packard, in Maine, eating holes 

 through the sides of the seed-pods and devouring the seeds,* which 

 he believes to be identical with the radish-seed weevil, Ceutorliyncliv s 

 assimilis Payk., of Europe. The Harlequin cabbage-bug, Muryantia 

 hisfrionica Halm., injures it severely in the Southern States ; while 

 in the western portion of the United States, another member of the 

 order of bugs, Nysius destructor Kiley, which resembles the chinch- 

 bug so closely in appearance that il has been taken for it, and has re- 

 ceived the popular name of the false chinch-bug, — sucks the juices 

 from the leaves and causes them to wilt,f while the Kocky Mountain 

 locust, Caloptenus spretus, eats its loaves with great avidity. J 



Of greater magnitude than all the above combined, are the injuries 

 inflicted upon radishes by the larv^ of the radish-fly. Throughout at 

 least the northern part of the United States, wherever they are culti- 

 vated, these larvpe may be found burrowing into the roots, and render- 

 ing them unsighth', hard, gnarly, stringy, and unfit for the table. They 

 traverse the root in all directions, extending often an inch or two in 

 its interior. In many localities they abound to such an extent that no 

 radishes can be grown without great injury from them, and often they 

 compel the entire abandonment of its cultivation. 



Description of the Insect. 



This species was first described by Dr. Harris in his Second Re- 

 port to the Legislature, on the Tnf<ects of JIassnchti setts, published in 

 the year 1841. It had been named by him in his List of Insects, con- 

 tained in the Catalogue of A)iimals and Plants of Massachusetts (page 

 80), published in 1835, together with several other species of An- 

 tliomyia,^ of which this only seems to have been subsequently described. 

 The description is as follows ; - — 



"Eadishes, while growing, are very apt to be attacked by maggots, 

 and rendered unfit to be eaten. These maggots ai-e finally transformed 

 to small, ash-colored flies, with a silvery-gray face, copper-colored eyes, 

 and a brown spot on the forehead of the females ; they have some faint 

 brownish lines on the thorax, and a longitudinal black line on the 

 hind-body, crossed by narrower black lines on the edges of the rings. 

 They vary in size, but usually measure rather more than one-fifth of 



*JViiitk Ann. JiepL Geolcxj .-G eofjrapk. Surv. Terr., 1877, p. 7G3. 

 ■(Fifth Ann. Kept. Ins. Mo., 1S73, p. 111. 

 ^Seventh Ann. Rcpt. Ins. Mo., 1875, p. 159. 



§The other 51S. names are the following : lunatifrons, timidn, notatifrons, calceola, is- 

 chiaca, goniphora, and lenis. 



