(ii MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 239 



most of the tips tittacked by the second, Init these are more likely than termi- 

 nal buds to produce leafy growths instead ni flower shoots the next year, 

 especially if the \ines lack xiaor. 



J)f.scrij)tiiin (111(1 St'(i.t(jii(il Hit<t(jrij. 



Flies and 7?//(/.v. 



The adult is a delicate fly expanding less than an eighth of an inch. The 

 male is rather dark and inconspicuous, but the female (fig. 62) has a large 

 reddi.sh alidomen. The female lays her eggs near the bases of the terminal 

 leaves (lig. ()3). The eggs are watery translucent with scattered reddish ])ig- 

 ment and are about a seventieth of an incii long. They are smooth, elongate, 

 usually sliglitly cur\ed from end to end, and with rounded ends. 



M'onns and Cocoontt. 



From one to five maggots api)ear in each infested tij>. They vary from pale 

 yellowish to orange red and are })ointed at one end (fig. (it). They have 

 neither legs nor head. They mature in about ten days, becoming about a six- 

 teenth of an inch long. Those of the first brood nuike their cocoons in the 

 injured tips and the flies emerge in a few days; those of the second descend 

 to the ground when mature and there form coc(ions in which they live till late 

 the next spring, without much harm from the winter flowage even when it is 

 held late. 



The cocoons are whitish, slightly flattened cases of closely s])un silk alxiut 

 a sixteenth of an inch long. Those of the second brood usually are attached 

 to fallen leaves or other trash (fig. (j.5). The maggot changes into a Itrown 

 jnipa and this wriggles out of the cocoon through a slit at one end shortly 

 before the flv eniersies. 



Trenimfiit. 



The maggots endure submergence longer than it is safe to have the growing 

 vines flooded and it has not been fouiid jiracticable to give them special 

 treatment with any insecticide. Bogs that are .sprayed thoroughly three or 

 four times at regular weekly intervals with 1 quart of 40 per cent nicotine 

 sulfate and -l pounds of fish-oil soap to 100 gallons of water to control the 

 fir.st brood of the black-headed fireworm usually are freed of the tipworm*^\ 

 Ordinary resanding every other yeir during the fi'll, winter or early sjiriiig 

 checks the pest nicely on most liogs, but it seldom ])ays to sand so often if a 

 bog has ample frost )>rotection. The sand either .•^mothers the worms in th.eir 

 cocoons or pre\ents the emergence of the flies. Fertiliser helps v.p.ik vines 

 bud after the attack of the worms, especially on s;uid bottom. 



68. See note 11, p. 11. 



