THE PEAE FLY. 583 



the same way as it should have been had there been another 

 exhibition to merit the award. 



As part of the duty entrusted to the Committee was to super- 

 intend and direct the trial crops at the Garden, the Secretary of 

 the Committee succeeded in obtaining large collections of the 

 following seeds, viz. :— 113 Peas, 73 Kidney Beans, 127 Cucum- 

 bers, 40 Broccoli, and 33 Cabbages. The'se were all sown, and 

 great expectations were entertained from the result, but from the 

 unfavourable state of the weather during the summer and autumn, 

 and the subsequent severe winter, the majority of these trials 

 proved failures. The Peas were the only crop that could be 

 undertaken, and the result of the observations made upon them 

 has already appeared in the Proceedings of the Society. 



Perhaps one of the most important steps taken by the Com- 

 mittee during the past season was the establishment of Local 

 Committees, of which there are now five in operation, viz. : — 

 Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, East Riding of 

 York, and the Valley of the Tweed. The time is as yet too 

 short for any opinion to be formed of the effect produced by the 

 operations of these Local Committees, but there is every prospect, 

 from the experience already obtained, that much good will arise 

 from their agency. 



ROBERT HOGG, 



LXXI.— THE PEAE FLY. 



Communicated to the Fruit Committee. 

 Decda nigripes ? Walker; Diptera, pi. 12, 11. 



" I TRUST it will not be uninteresting to the Fruit Committee 

 if I call their attention to the history of a little fly which, without 

 attracting the notice of the gardener, frequently destroys his crops 

 of pears, and probably apples also ; and if to a knowledge of the 

 economy of the insect I can add a simple method by which its 

 destructive effects may in future be prevented, or at least reduced 

 in extent, I shall not deem the time misspent. 



"To Henry Webb, Esq., of Redstone Manor, Reigate, a 

 Member of the late Pomological Society, I am indebted for 

 several specimens of Catillac pears which he sent me on the 25th 

 June, 1860, in which he had discovered several small maggots, 



