286 EEPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AGEICULTURE. 



since then have been on the increase. Mr. Coe is the only one in his 

 section of the State who has imported pear stocks, and his farm was 

 the first, and for some time the only one, infested. 



Vov purposes of comparison we quote Schmidbergrer's account of the 

 hiiltits of this European species {Cecidomyia nigra Meigen) : * 



The number of egjrs -nlucli tlieso niulges lay in a pear appears to be various; a.s 1 

 Kotiictimes found only a fevi- larvaj in ono pear, and sometimes more than tweuly. 

 Tliif eggs are hatched in a short time, particularly if the -weather be warm; because-, 

 fit'iii the fourth day of their deposition, I found the small larvee on the embryo of tho 

 li!ossoni, iuto which they began to bore, usually in or near the stem of the calyx. 

 Mcfoie tiie blossom is expanded they descend to the core, so that they may not be ex- 

 posed to the sun's rays: which, as has been alieady said, would endanger their ex- 

 istfuce. They separate at the core and begin to devour on all sides. When they have 

 cousiimed the pulp of the small fruit, they have attained their full size, and only 

 wait for a favourable opportunity to leave their still secure dwelliug and fecdiug 

 house. This opportunity presents itself after the first raiu ; because the little pears 

 being hollowed out, begin to decay hero and there and become cracked, by wliicli 

 means an opening is afforded to the larvte to make their way out. As soon as they 

 get on the surface of the little pear, they bend themselves together and make a spring 

 to the ground to bury themselves. That these larvai are not injured by such u dash 

 on the ground I am perfectly convinced. I let a larva fall from a height of I) fi.'et 

 on the floor of a room three times running ; I then laid it on the earth in a glass, and 

 in a few seconds it buried itself. 



If no rain happens at the time they have attained their full size, they sometimes 

 gnaw an opening through the skin of the little pear; they usually, however, remain 

 together in the core till the pear falls off and is bruised by its fall on the ground, 

 when they obtain an outlet. They often remain a long time in the pear on the ground, 

 if they cannot obtain a passage out. I gathered some pears that were outwardly not 

 inj ured by them, and laid some of them on a board in the room, and others on the clamp 

 earth in tlie glass ; and I found the larvjE still in the pears in the mid<lleof July, although 

 they were externally completely withered or decayed, and covered with mould. I 

 took them out of the pear and laid them on the earth in the glass, and most of them, 

 even in July, buried themselves there. 



In the year 1331, the larvaj of the Gall and Pear-midges had attained their full size 

 from the 14th to the 20th of May; but in 1832, not until from the 20th to the 26th, 

 because the coldness of the weather that spring greatly retarded the growth of the 

 fruit. They have, therefore, generally nearly four or live weeks to grow and attain 

 their full size before they hurj themselves in the earth, where they await their 

 transformation. As my Gall-midges did not appear in the perfect state till December 

 and Januaiy, it may also with certaiuty be conjectured that the midges issue from 

 the earth in spring to propagate their species in the open air. » « * In the spring 

 of 1832, my first business was to look all round the garden for these midges. When 

 the blossom buds of the pear-tree were so far developed that in the single blossoms a 

 petal showed itself between the segments of the calyx, I found the first Gall-midge in 

 the act of laying its eir^ in the blossom ; this was on the 12th of April. It had lixed 

 itself almost perpendicularly in the middle of a single blossom, and having pierced the 

 petal through with its long' ovipositor, it laid its egg on the anther of the still closed 

 blossom. The female was about seven and a half minutes laying her eggs. When she 

 had llown away, I cut the pierced bud in two, and found the eggs lying in a heap ono 

 niion another on the anthers. They were white, longish, on one side pointed and 

 transparent, and from ten to twelve in number. I afterwards found several midges 

 engaged in laying their eggs, as late as the 18th of AprU, from which day they 

 i-i,'".>ed to appear in the garden. I also saw a Gall-midge on the side of the blossom 

 With its ovipositor inserted in it ; so that they do not merely pienco the petals but the 

 caivx also. I even saw one which, having been somewhat long in laying its eggs, 

 cDiild not draw out the ovipositor from the blossom; the cause of whicli I conceived 

 til lie, that the wound had begun to close during the operation and the ovipositor waa 

 r Ii. reby jammed in. 



1 1 will thus be seen that the habits of the species called nigra are 

 \L-ry similar to those of the insect from Meriden. 



Such descriptions of nigra as are at our command seem also to in 

 dicate this species. The only discrepancy occurs in the translation < f 

 Schmidberger's -description,! in which it is stated that the female has 



* A Treatise on Insects, &c., by Vincent Kollar, translated by J. and M. Loudop, 

 with notes by Westwood. London, 1840, pp. 292-295. 

 t Kollar, 1. c. p. 292. 



