THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



43 



ANTHOMYIA BRASSIC.E. 



a. The female fly magnified. The cross lines show the natural 



size. 



b. The Chrysalis magnified. 



c. The maggot magnified. 



friend for looking downcast, for he had 

 considerable invested in time and 

 manure and land. 



It seems that there is an extensive 

 family which pass their maggot or larval 

 life in preying upon our early vege- 

 table.s. The family name is A nthomyia. 

 The Anthomijia raphani, or raddish-fly, 

 is so nearly like the common house-fly, 

 as to be easily mistaken for that ubi- 

 quitous individual. It lays its eggs at 

 the crown of the young radish, and the 

 maggots hatching therefrom work 

 speedy devastation to the root. 



A. brassicce is the cabbage-fly, and 

 diff'ers from raphani in being smaller 

 and brighter colored. One writer says 

 "it is found through the summer, and 

 is the parent of a maggot which has 

 been known to lav waste whole fields 

 of cabbages by diseasing the roots on 

 which they feed, as well as the base of 

 the stalk." Successive generations are 

 feeding until November, the latter 

 families lying in the pupa state through 

 the winter, and probably some of the 

 flies survive that season secreted in holes 

 and crevices 



" When the cabbage leaves assume 

 a leaden or yellow color and droo|> in 

 mid-day from tho effect of the sun, such 



plants being diseased should be taken 

 up, carried away and V)urned, and brine 

 or lime put in the holes. Gardeners 

 in some instances have collected large 

 quantities of the pupa by drawing away 

 the earth from the roots." 



The Anthomi/ia unlike house and 

 blow-flies, dislike intense smells, and 

 the means of their prevention or de- 

 struction is found in this fact. The 

 radisb-fly is prevented from de[)ositing 

 its eggs around the young plants, by 

 sprinkling the bed with diluted carVjolic 

 acid at intervals of a few days. The 

 method of dealing with the cabbage 

 maggot is thus described by Prof. A. J. 

 Cook : 



" A small hole is made near the cab- 

 bage with a walking-stick or other rod, 

 and about one-lialf a teaspoonful of the 

 liquid — bi-sul}>hide of carbon — poured 

 in, when the hole is quickly filled 

 with earth and pressed down with the 

 foot. In every case the insects were 

 killed without injury to the })lants." 



The bi-suljjhide of carbon is very 

 volatile, and if not carefully corked will 

 throw off" Vcipour* which readily ignites 

 and explodes when bi-ought in contact 

 with fire. It will be seen that two 

 different methods are used, that for the 



