INSECTS AND OTHER ENEMIES. 85 



their attention directed towards it, for the bulb swells and 

 becomes club-shaped at the part where the maggot is feed- 

 ing ; these larvae when they are matured change into a fly, the 

 swollen part of the bulb opens, and the flies are liberated and 

 become distributed about the house, when if they are not 

 destroyed they multiply, and will soon infest the healthy 

 plants. They appear to live chiefly amongst the Cattleyas. 

 They remain in the bulb until it is half-grown, which must of 

 course injure the plant, and then they leave it. 



The remedy to be adopted is this : as soon as the bulb is 

 perceived to be swelling more than is natural to it, proceed to 

 cut the growth away close to the old bulb, and thus destroy it at 

 once before any mischief has been done. There is then a chance 

 of getting another growth without it. This will be found to be 

 the only effectual method of exterminating this enemy. It is 

 annoying to have to cut away the young growth, but it is better 

 to do so than to get other plants infested in the same manner. 

 In the case of imported plants, the insects will not be in the 

 bulbs, but distributed among the old stems, and if not destroyed 

 at once they will be ready to enter the new shoots while young 

 and tender. When the fly leaves the bulb it laj's its eggs, 

 which soon pass through their several stages, and in due time 

 become flies. These when full grown pierce the foliage and 

 young growths with their ovipositor, and lay their eggs, 

 which soon change into the maggots, these latter feeding on the 

 growing bulbs, and deriving their sustenance from the living 

 tissues of the bulb, which is of course most injurious. If 

 imported plants have been infested there will be found a punc- 

 ture near the bottom of the old bulb. If there is no puncture 

 to be seen, the plant may be cleaned and put away. A 

 successful Orchid grower told us how he had entirely got rid 

 of these insects by the following treatment. He placed his 

 newly imported plants in a house by themselves until the 



