47 . 



DESCRIPTION. 



Aditlt. — Length, 0.17 inch to tip of abdomen and 0.?0 inch to end of wings. 

 Color, yellowish white, with a black spot on the top of the head, which is con- 

 tinued backward to the pedicel of the neck. Thorax with three black stripes, 

 approaching each other anteriorly, but not coming in contact, the middle stripe pro- 

 longed anteriorly to the pedicel of the neck and posteriorly to the apex of the 

 scutel. Abdomen with three broad, blackish stripes, which are confluent posteriorly 

 and interrupted at each of the sutures. Tips of the feet and veins of the hyaline 

 wings blackish. Eyes, bright green. Antennae, dusky on their iipper side. (Lintner.) 



Egg. — Snow white, fusiform, longitudinally ridged, the space between the ridges 

 being concave and marked off into rectangular areas by still slighter ridges transverse 

 to the others. Length, 0.023 inch; breadth, 0.005 inch. (Forbes.) 



Larva. — Very pale green, slender, footless, tapering anteriorly, somewhat nar- 

 rowed, but subtruncate posteriorly; one-fourth of an inch in length by about one- 

 eighth of an inch in width. The segments are thirteen in number, including the 

 head, those in the center of the body being a little wider than long. The four ante- 

 rior segments narrow rapidly forward, the one next the head being at its apex less 

 than half the diameter of the fourth. The three posterior segments are also some- 

 what narrowed, the penultimate being about three-fourths the diameter of the sec- 

 ond preceding. The head is provided beneath with the pair of black toothed hooks 

 common to many dipterous maggots. The antennae are very short, scarcely longer 

 than broad, two-jointed, the second joint extensile. There are two circular, appar- 

 ently sensory, areas below the antennae upon the front of the head, doubtless repre- 

 senting maxillary palpi. The mouth is beneath the head, sucker-like in form. The 

 last or anal segment is divided into two lobes and bears upon its posterior surface 

 two breathing pores or spiracles, each guarded by a circlet of about twelve depressed 

 spines. The surface of the larva is entirely smooth and shining, except for some 

 very fine transverse ridges on the under side of the segments, evidently used in loco- 

 motion. On each side of the base of the second segment is a small, gill-like append- 

 age, divided into two lobes, each lobe with six divisions. ( Forbes. ) 



Pupa. — The pupa of this species is what is technically known as a coarctate jiupa, 

 contained within the last skin of the larva, which is not shed previous to transfor- 

 mation, but remains as a protective envelope for the forming pupa. As the latter 

 shows through its case, the color is green, except at the ends, where, with the growth 

 of the pupa within, the case is left empty and transparent. It is about one-sixth 

 of an inch long by one-fifth in width, and divided into ten clearly recognizable 

 segments. The anterior of these, corresponding to the head and first segment of 

 the larva, is yellowish, shrunken, and corrugated, about half the width of the third 

 segment. The second and third are obscurely divided, the first being short and 

 narrowing rapidly forward. Within it are observed the retracted maxilbe of the old 

 larva. The remaining segments to the eighth are about equal in length, separated by 

 deeply impressed sutures at first, the anterior sutures l)ecoming obliterated as the 

 enlargement of the head and thorax of the pupa within distends the envelope. The 

 ninth segment is the longest of all, the tenth being nearly equally long, but narrower, 

 and shrunken and wrinkled on its posterior border. The eleventh, representing the 

 twelfth of the larva, is only a brown and corrugated rudiment. As the development 

 of the pupa approaches completion, the eyes, wing-pads, and legs are visible through 

 the transparent covering, but they form no elevations of the surface. (Forbes.) 



FOOD PLANTS. 



Besides wheat, rye, oats, and barley, all of which it has long been 

 known to infest, I have reared Meromyza cmiericana from the com- 



