134 
26). As soon as the plant begins to sprout, the work of the maggot 
begins, and it is at this time that much of the damage is done, ahho 
it is not so evident then as later. Much of the trouble attributed 
to poor seed is really due to the maggot, which may attack and 
quickly kill the plants just as they appear above ground, or even 
sooner. The earlier the attack the greater the number of plants 
destroyed, since more will be eaten 1)y the maggot. 
Fig. 24. Onion-maggot, Phorbia ceparum, female and head of 
male. Length of , body about three-sixteenths of an inch. 
The adult ( Fig. 24) of this maggot is very similar to the com- 
mon house-fly in general appearance, except that it has a grayish 
thorax and is somewhat smaller. It is a near relative of the cab- 
bage root-maggot, already described, and the two insects, as well 
as their work, are much alike. The winter may be passed in any 
one of its various stages excepting the tgg. Hibernating adults, 
or adults maturing early in spring, deposit eggs deep in the cracks 
and crevices of the earth, near the young plants. The ininute mag- 
gots hatching tw-o to four days later, more or less according to the 
prevailing temperatures, make their way to the bulb and begin 
feeding on the roots and the underground parts of the plant. They 
burrow within the bulb, causing the inner parts to decay. An in- 
fested onion may appear sound, but l)y pressure the rotten parts 
and the maggots may be forced out. When full grown, some two 
or three weeks after hatching, the maggots change to brownish 
m 
