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INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



Saw-Flies Attacking Wheat * 



Several members of the Hymenopterous family commonly 

 called saw-flies, are occasionally found feeding on wheat but 

 scarcely deserve to be ranked as pests. One of these is the Wheat 

 Saw-fly Borer, f and another is called the Western Grass-stem 

 Saw-fly.t 



The former is an importation from Europe while the latter is a 

 native insect and is more common in the Northwest than in the 

 Eastern States. 



Both species bore in the stems of wheat and some other 



FIG. 109. The western grass-stem saw-fly (Cephus ocddentalis) : a, larva; 

 6, female saw-fly; c, grass-stem showing work; c, enlarged, a, b, more 

 enlarged. (After Marlatt, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



plants. Eggs are laid in the stem and a single larvae develops 

 and feeds within the stem until full grown when it pupates with- 

 in the part of the stem which is underground and there spends 

 the winter. The adults appear about May. 



Remedies. Rotation of crops, burning of stubble and plowing 

 the stubble under deeply are the remedies suggested, should any 

 be needed on account of the serious increase of the pests. 



* Family Tenthredinidce. 

 t Cephus pygmceus Linn. 

 j Cephus occidentalism Riley and Marlatt. 



