In putting either one of these methods into practice, the farmer will 

 have to use his own judgmenl as to exact dates, as seasonal influences 

 affect both the time of blooming of the clover and the appearance of 

 the midges. He must also see to it that roadsides and margins of fields 

 are prevented from becoming nurseries for the midge, from which they 

 may easily migrate to his fields. 



THE CLOVER-SEED CHALCIS. 



[Bruchophagus funebris How.) 



The differences between this insect and the preceding have already 

 been pointed out. Its habits are decidedly anomalous. It belongs to 

 a family of parasites whose office it is to prey upon and destroy other 

 insects; and it was largely this conception of its mode of living that 

 caused it to be first described as a parasite of the clover-flower midge, 

 and thus to be looked upon as 

 a friend of the farmer instead 

 of as an enemy. This opinion 

 was universal up to 1896, 

 when Dr. A. I). Hopkins, then 

 of West \ 'irginia, called at- 

 tention to the misconception, 

 but even at that late date his 

 conclusions were not gener- 

 ally accepted as correct. 

 Since that time, however, the 

 insect has again and again 



been nroveil bv rearing to Fig- 5.— The clover-seed cnalcis(.BracAqpAa^*7ime&w*): 

 ' " ' . Adult female, much enlarged ; antenna of the male at 



be a vegetable feeder, b\ T in- left, more enlarged. (Original.) 



vestigators within this Bureau 



and by others, until there can no longer be a shade of doubt regarding 



its clover-seed-destroying habits. Both this and the midge may inhabit 



the same heads of clover, but not the same florets. 



DESCRIPTION. 



The adult insect is shown enlarged in figure 5. It is of small size, 

 compact form, and general black color, with dark-brown eyes, ami with 

 the lower portion of the fore legs and all the feet light brown. 



The egg (fig. 6) is whitish, smooth, polished, slightly elongate, with 

 a long, slender pedicel. It is deposited directly in the otherwise per- 

 fect seed. 



The larva (fig. 7) is of much the same color as the egg and when full 

 grown practically fills the empty shell of the ^i^'d, the contents of which 

 it has consumed. 



Tin pupa (tig. 8) is at first whitish, but later changes to brown. It 

 develops to the adult within the seed ami in this last stage eats its way 

 out of the now empty seed shell. 



