132 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 





Remedies. "If the grain is stacked or threshed and the 

 straw stacked or burned/' says Professor Webster, "it is clear that 

 the number escaping would be greatly reduced," for, as the 

 adults emerge soon after harvest, they would escape to deposit 

 their eggs were the straw left in the fields, but "it is not likely 

 that those in the centre of the stacks would be able to make 

 their way out, and the threshing-machine would destroy many 

 more. How much could be accomplished by late sowing of grain 

 is uncertain, as the females are known to occur abundantly up to 

 October. If plots of grain were sowed immediately after harvest 

 in the vicinity of the stacks, many of the females could, no doubt, 



be induced to deposit 

 their eggs therein, and 

 these could be destroyed 

 by plowing under." 

 Burning of the stubble 

 will also aid in keeping 

 this pest under control. 

 There are several 

 undetermined species of 

 flies belonging to the 

 genus Oscinis , which 

 have practically the 

 same life history as the 

 wheat stem-maggot and 

 injure the wheat in the 

 same manner. They 



FIG. 113. The American frit-fly (Oscinis variabilis ver ^ closel y resemble 

 Loew): a, larva or maggot; 6, puparium;c, adult the common house-fly 

 fly. (After Garman.) in miniature? being 



about one-fourth as large. They will not need consideration by 

 the practical farmer other than in applying methods of control 

 as already given. One species of this genus, determined by Pro- 

 fessor H. Garman as Oscinis variabilis Loew and christened the 

 American Frit-fly, has been found common in Kentucky and 

 Canada, but in the larval stage is so nearly identical in appear- 

 ance and habit with the stem-maggot that it can with difficulty 

 be distinguished from it. 



That these pests do not do more injury is probably due, to a 



