THE ENEMIES OF PLANT LIFE 



A skilled man is traveling over the world, 

 jointly in service with this commission and 

 West Australia authorities, seeking for foes of 

 insect pests. He found one day a place in the 

 interior of Spain where the apples were not 

 disturbed to any appreciable extent by the 

 worm which has done such enormous damage 

 to the apple crop in Europe and the United 

 States, the losses in this country averaging 

 twenty millions of dollars per year. This 

 worm is the product of the codling-moth. The 

 worm was found in the Spanish orchards in 

 small numbers, and this led the investigator to 

 inquire why this was, — why the worm did not 

 abound as elsewhere when other conditions 

 were the same. He found in the orchards a 

 small fly, considerably larger than a house-fly 

 and very much larger than the tiny Australia 

 ladybird, very slender and wasp-like in shape, 

 with two pairs of long, blue-black wings. It 

 had also a long sheath in which it carried a 

 slender powerful stiletto. Investigation showed 

 that it was this fly which kept the true balance 

 of nature in the Spanish orchards. It was its 

 particular mission to kill the codling-moth 

 worm, the natural foe of this dreaded pest. 



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