54 HOP. 



luiscliief. Ill the following year (1883) specimens again sent me by 

 Mr. Goodwin on the 31st of August (a date earlier than that named in 

 his observations of the previous year) showed the mischief to be caused 

 by the maggots of some kind of small two -winged (dipterous) fly. The 

 " strigs " were tunnelled by the maggots, and on laying the Hops on a 

 table the little maggots came out of them, and joining head and tail, 

 like Cheese Maggots, skipped in all directions. Still, there being 

 apparently no recorded description of this kind of attack to Hop, and 

 also as I bad not then the strong microscopic powers which I since 

 procured, I did not manage to identify the larva ; and no further 

 specimens were sent me until the past season, when I was able to 

 determine the larva with certainty as being that of a Cecidoiiiyia. 



The first samples sent me were forwarded on September 22nd, from 

 The Parsonage, Cobham, near Gravesend, by Miss E. J. Stevens, with 

 the remarks : — " I am writing to ask whether you can tell us of any 

 remedy for an attack of Strig Maggot in Hops, or anything which 

 could be used to prevent it another year." . . . . " My father 

 has had the Hop-ground for the last fifty years, and it is only the last 

 two or three seasons the maggot has been troublesome. This year it 

 is worse than it has ever been. We burnt most of the bines last year, 

 instead of wispiug them, thinking that might make a difference, but 

 the maggot seems to leave the Hops before the healthy ones are ripe. 

 The Hop-ground is well cultivated ; farm-yard manure is used. There 

 has been very little mould this summer, and sulphuring has only been 

 done twice, about 40 lbs. per acre of flour of sulphur each time." 



The bunches of Hops sent were undersized ; some of them were pale 

 green, some partially discoloured, and some wholly brown. 



On investigation I found that in many cases the central stem of the 

 bunch was destroyed, or partially destroyed, and apparently tunnelled 

 by some enemy which for the most part, judging by the small per- 

 forations in the outside of the destroyed "strig," had finished its work 

 by making an exit-hole and escaping. 



On careful examination I found several kinds of small insects 

 present, but of these the only specimens which could with any 

 certainty be supposed to give rise to the injury were various larva} of 

 some species of Ceciduinyia. These were of various tints, from white 

 to a creamy colour, and of the usual form of this kind of maggot — • 

 that is to say, long, cylindrical, and pointed at the head end, and 

 furnished near this extremity beneath the body with the peculiar 

 process known as the "anchor process," or "breast-bone."* This 

 was bifid at the free extremity, the points of the fork blunt, and the 

 portion immediately below this with a slight inclination to a bulb shape, 

 the stem rather slight and narrow. Most of the maggots were free, so 



* Toi liguie of a Cecidoiiiyia juagyot, see also paper on Tare Cecids, 



