CIRCULAR No. 155. 
Issued October 5, 1912. 
United States Department of Agriculture, 
BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 
L. O. HOWARD, Entomologist and Chief of Bureau. 
INSECTS INJURIOUS TO MUSHROOMS. 
By C. H. PoPenog, 
Entomological Assistant. 
Cultivated mushrooms, especially during warm weather, are at- 
tacked by several species of insect pests which frequently destroy 
. ; . sa 4 a 
an entire crop, or so curtail the production as to make the industry 
unprofitable. Although this injury is at 
times serious, little interest has been taken 
by entomologists in the matter of its con- 
trol, so that there is practically no available 
economic literature on the subject. This 
circular is of a preliminary nature, as the 
investigation of all insects injurious to 
mushrooms may not be completed for some 
time. 
The insects which usually attack culti- 
vated mushrooms, and those of which com- 
plaints are most frequently made, may be 
divided roughly into four classes, namely, 
mushroom maggots, mites, springtails, and 
sowbugs. Of these the maggots are the 
most generally injurious, the mites follow 
Fic. 1.—A mushroom fly, 4 phi- 
ochata albidihalteris: Male. 
Much enlarged. (Original.) 
in order of importance, owing to the difficulty with which their 
eradication is accomplished, and then come springtails and sowbugs 
in the order named. 
MUSHROOM MAGGOTS. 
(Sciara multiseta Felt et al.) 
The injurious forms commonly known as ‘mushroom maggots” are 
small whitish or yellowish-white maggots usually having black heads. 
50985°—Cir. 155—12 
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