106 FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



an inch in length. They finish their transformations, and appear 

 above the ground, tpward the end of June. * * * * jj; 

 closely resembles the root-fly {Anthomyia radicum), of Europe." 



Dr. Fitch has given a more detailed description of, presumably, the 

 same insect : " The larva is 0.20 long, elongating itself to 0.25 when 

 crawling. It is about three times as long as thick, appearing to be 

 more short and broad than the larva of the onion-fly. It is white, 

 shining, cylindrical and tapering to a point anteriorly, where the jaws 

 appear under the skin as a short, black, movable line, its anterior end 

 when protruded forward becoming split, and then seen to be two sharp 

 hooks, which are curved downward, and when the animal is crawling 

 these hooks are pressed downward against the surface to aid locomo- 

 tion. The body is divided by transverse lines into eleven or twelve 

 segments, and when the head is esserted, thirteen segments can be 

 counted. At the hind end of the back a pale, tawny, yellowish dor- 

 sal stripe is faintly visible. The hind end is abruptly cut off, obliquely 

 downward and slightly backward, forming a flat surface, having above 

 its center two conspicuous spiracles or elevated dots, their surface 

 opake and rugose, and their color sometimes tawny-yellow, sometimes 

 black. The flattened hind end has a number of small acute teeth 

 around its outer margin, of which the two lower ones are thicker, of 

 a brownish color, and slightly notched or two-toothed at their tip in 

 the large but not in the smaller young larvae. Above these on each 

 side are three teeth, distant from each other, the middle one nearer to 

 the upper than to the lower one." 



Although Dr. Fitch adopted the specific name given by Dr. Harris, 

 yet he states that *' it appears to be identical in every particular Avith 

 the European A. radicwn." Farther on, he indicates these diflFerences: 

 '' The worm and also the pupa differs in no respect from those of the 

 Onion-fly, that I perceive, except that at the hind end the two larger 

 teeth on the middle of the under side are slightly notched or two- 

 toothed at their tips, instead of being tapered to a single point. The 

 flies, too, are very similar, but here three faint brownish stripes are 

 perceptible on the thorax or fore-body, and upon the hind-body in the 

 male is a black stripe along the middle of the back, which is crossed 

 by narrower black lines on each of the sutures." 



The following is a detailed description of the flies : — 



" The i?7ale is ash-gray and very bristly; the large compound eyes 

 occupy most of the surface of the head and are almost in contact upon 

 the crown. There are also three minute eyes at the base of the crown. 

 The face is silvery-gray, almost white in some reflections of the light, 

 with a long black streak on the forehead, which is pointed at its hind 

 end. Below this streak are the black three-jointed antennae, the basal 



