THE ALFALFA GALL MIDGE. 



numbers as previously obsei*A'ed by him at Sacaton, May 27, 1911. 

 In sending a lot of heads of alfalfa from Tularosa, N. Mex., July 

 13, 1911, Mr. M. A. Bishop, a farmer, directed our attention to 

 reports among his neighbors of injury to the seed and complaints 

 of bee keepers of a lack of honey in the bloom. A considerable 

 number of these galled pods was included in 

 his sending, apparently without having been ob- 

 served by him. 



DESCRIPTION or THE GALL. 



The following is a translation of the original 

 description of the gall (fig. 3) found in alfalfa 

 fields in the vicinity of Vienna, Austria: 



The formation of the gall stands out as a defonuation 

 of the seed-pod of the lucerne, Medicago sativa L. The 

 deformed pod does not show the same snail coil shape as 

 in the normal, healthy condition, but it is shortened at the 

 point, where it is somewhat shrunken. It is strongly 

 bloated up and swelled out, particularly in the proximity 

 of the base, the valves of the ixkI 

 are considerably thicker, and the 

 rest of it is flesh-like in color. 

 Although the pods keep the green 

 color on the outside, they contain 

 no seed. It is not impossible 

 that the insect, by visiting in 

 large numbers fields containing 

 lucerne, might injure the seed 



harvest of this clover species quite considerably. 



The pupa bores through the wall of this pod with the 



intention of transforming to the imago. It is then 



situated laterally and below the shrunken gall point. 



On Medicago falcata L. I have found exactly the same 



gall formation, but only a few examples. Although I did 



not take the flies out of these galls, I do believe, never- 

 theless, that these galls in their formative condition 



agree exactly with those of the preceding species, and 



since one out of the same conspicuous pupal cases 



belongs to an Asphondylia, I dare to conclude therefrom 



that their origin may be traced to Asphondylia miki.^ 



The description of the gall forms on both species of 



Medicago are taken from Donau-Auen of Wien. 



From the galled seed pods found by him at Sacaton, Mr. Ainslie 

 was able to rear the adult insects (fig. 4), which were later deter- 

 mined by the late Mr. D. W. Coquillett as Asphondylia miki, as 



1 G. Ritter v. Frauenfeld had already become acquainted with this gall formation for in 

 the Verh. d. k. k. zool.-botan. Ges., Jahrg. ISGl. Bd. XL p. 17."., he says: "The Gall flies 

 inhabit the flowers of the Mediccujo sathm L. in large numbers, and the fruit of Medicago 

 in even greater numbers." [Kalserlich-konigliche Zool.-bot. Ges. in Wien., vol. 30, p. 535, 

 S tab. XVIII, fig. 2, 1880.] 



Fig. 2. — A head of al- 

 falfa with the seed 

 pods uninjured ex- 

 cepting the lower 

 one at right, which 

 has been attacked 

 by the alfalfa gall 

 midge. Slightly en- 

 larged. (Original. ) 



Fig. 3. — A single seed 

 pod of alfalfa de- 

 stroyed by the alfalfa 

 gall midge. Much en- 

 larged. (Original.) 



