26 CALIFORNIA STATE HORTICULTURAL COMMISSION. 



They are usually very conspicuous from size, color, and markings, and 

 Tery many of them resemble other insects and may be mistaken for 

 bees, .wasps, etc. They are often seen in sunny weather poising almost 

 motionless on the wing, especially over flower-beds, occasionally darting 

 on their prey. The larva of the syrphus flies is of great benefit in 

 destroying all kinds of aphids. It is quite blind, but the egg from which 

 it hatches is deposited by the parent fly in the midst of a colony of 

 plant aphids, where it gropes about and obtains an abundance of food 

 without much trouble. The larva is fleshy, thick and blunt behind, and 

 pointed in front. Its mouth is furnished with a triple-pointed dart, 

 with which it seizes and pierces its prey, and, elevating it as shown in 

 the figure, deliberately sucks it dry. 



MAGNIFIED NAT URALS.ZE 



MAGNIFIED , NATURALS12E 



FI<; Ifi. FIG. 17. FIG. 18. 



Larva of Syrphus Fly. Pupa of Syrphus Fly. Syrphus Fly. 



This is but a partial list of the very many insect friends which are 

 doing' so much for California horticulture, and which it has been the 

 policy of the State Board of Horticulture and the State Horticultural 

 Commissioner to foster and encourage to the widest extent, and at the 

 same time to add to their numbers all beneficial insects which can be 

 secured from any part of the world. To this end correspondence is car- 

 ried on with entomologists in different parts of the world, while agents 

 of this department are dispatched to discover and introduce beneficial 

 species wherever they can be found. It is the policy of this State to 

 use artificial remedies so long as there are no better ones, but to secure, 

 introduce, and distribute the better means, and these consist of beneficial 

 insects, as soon as possible. In California, at least, this plan has been 

 found a very effective and profitable one, for of all the many insect 

 pests which have been found here, and they are as numerous as any- 

 where on earth, and have been imported from all parts of the earth, 

 there are not now more than two or three really serious species, and all 

 are controlled by their insect checks, either native or introduced ; and 

 so far as those for which we have not yet found an effective parasite are 

 concerned, we are now searching for one, and* in view of our past suc- 

 cess in this line, will undoubtedly find it. 



