1883.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



les 



through whicli they began to rot. Many of 

 them were perforated, and Ih-mly adhered to 

 each other wliere they came in contact, but 

 with very little of the silky fiber which u.sually 

 characterizes the work of the "Grape cod- 

 ling," or, "Grape-berry moth," {Pcntkina 

 vitivorana, Pack.) or, {Eudemis hntrana 

 Schilf.t) when they tie the grapes togethir, 

 and pass out of one into another. Some of the 

 diseased berries that I opened contained at 

 least one small Lepidopterous larva, (some 

 contained two) mainly agreeing with the de- 

 scriptions of the insect, or insects above 

 named. These diseased grapes I placed in 

 three small wide mouthed jars, or cups, with 

 glass covers. Two of them developed nothing 

 so far (Oct 19.) but green, and white monld: 

 but the third one developed a multitude of 

 small Dipterous larvje, from the pupie of which 

 evolved as many small two-winged Flies, but 

 not a particle of mould, of any kind. In those 

 berries that I opened, I observed neither 

 dipterous larvffi or pnppe, nor did I detect 

 anything on the outside of them that could 

 be recognized as eggs, and yet in the cluster 

 which I enclosed, eggs may have been present 

 without having been discovered by me, on ac- 

 count of their minuteness. 



On Sunday, Oct. 14, the weather was ex- 

 ceedingly warm : and had been so the two 

 previous days. On that day I noticed the 

 first evolution of these little flies, and as there 

 were only a few of them I supposed they 

 might have been parasitic on the bodies of the 

 "codling" worms, but at the present date 

 (October 19) they are two numerous and too 

 large, to have all subsisted on the bodies 

 aforenamed. There are hundreds of them 

 and they seem familiar, although I can't 

 name them. Many of the maggots are crawl- 

 ing up the sides of the glass jar, some of 

 which pass there into the pupa state, and 

 from that into the iniiujo. This seems a 

 necessary preliminary, to illustration and de- 

 scription. 



These larvaj are of the ordinary maggot 

 shape — as they are usually found in the Mus- 

 ciD.E— small or attenuated at the anterior 

 end and increasing in size until the middle is 

 reached, and from thence to the posterior ex- 

 tremity of a nearly imiform size, and there 

 terminating by an abrupt truncation, except 

 that there is a small projecting proUibcrance 

 from the anal end, akin to an ovipositor in 

 some species of Lepidoptera. The imma- 

 ture larva is almost transparent, and the con- 

 tents of the intestines, in oblong dark streaks, 

 are visible through the skin. The head is 

 very small, dark in color, and very retractile, 

 as are also three of the anterior segments. 

 Two divergent dark streaks are seen through 

 the first or second anterior segments, and 

 just behind them two others, larger and more 

 diverging. When the larva becomes mature 

 it becomes white, and nearly opaque, and is 

 then about five m. m. in length. On opening 

 one of the grapes I found within it, buried in 

 the decayed pulp, more than twenty of these 



fDr. Packard illustrates the first imined, and jSIr. 

 Saunders the Inst named, with precisely the same cuts ; 

 and, as the latter makes no reference to a synonym in 

 his late work, when he records the habit of the "berr.v- 

 moth, ' it seems to involve a tlonbt. as to whether both 

 authors allude to the same insect or not. Possibly the 

 ignoring of synonyms in popular natural history may 

 be for tile purpose of simplitiying it, but in reality It 

 only complicates it. 



larvrv, but no piqirr — they seemed to prefer 

 pupating outside of the grape — but on the 

 bottom and sides of the jar, or on the skin of 

 the grape they were abundantly found. 



The pupa is a trifle shorter than the 

 mature larca and of nearly the same color, 

 and is prominently distinguished by two 

 slightly divergent spines projecting from the 

 anal extremity ; the anterior end being more 

 obtuse than it is in the larva. 



In the imnifi there arc two forms, which 

 are undoubtedly sexual, although there is 

 very little difference in size. The body is four 

 m. m. in length, and the aler expansion is six 

 m. TO., in some specimens more and in others 

 less. The thorax, the head and the ventral 

 portion of the abdomen, are a honey yellow, 

 darker in the male than in the female. The 

 dorsal portion of the abdomen is dark 

 swarthy — darker in the male than in the 

 female. The head is proportionately large, 

 and the eyes are very prominent — indeed, the 

 most striking feature of the whole insect — 

 being a bright, waxy scarlet red, about the 

 color of red sealing wax, and when crushed 

 on white paper thej' leave a scarlet streak ; 

 the ligida, or proboscis, is large and retractile, 

 working in and out, or up and down like a 

 bellows. The antennre are quite small, and 

 bristle like, scarcely distinguishable from 

 other dark, forward, projecting bristles on 

 the head. The feet are all whitish, and in 

 the males the tarsi are dark. In the females 

 there are a few hairs, pointing backward, on 

 each side of the thorax, and also a few on the 

 abdomen, fringing the segments. 



The dorsal portion of the fenale abdomen 

 is glo.ssy and she is provided with an excerted 

 ovipositor, similar to that of a female "wheat- 

 midge" (Cemlomi/ia tritici). The thorax and 

 abdomen of the male have many bristling 

 hairs, inclining backwards, arranged along 

 the' posterior margins of the abdominal seg- 

 ments, and the abdomen terminates somewhat 

 obtusely. All the hairs on both sexes are of 

 a dark color, but not black. The halterers 

 are prominent in both sexes, and the wings 

 are longitudinally nerved, with a few trans- 

 verse nerves, and of a beautiful hyaline, or ir- 

 ridiscent in coloration, but after the insect 

 dies the irridiscence passes away, and they 

 are simply a dull transparent. 



The larva has great power of extension and 

 hence moves rapidly, and, although entirely 

 footless, can crawl up the glass sides of a jar 

 with perfect ease. The Hy is dexterous in its 

 cursorial movements and alert in flight. 



There were seven or eight grapes in the jar ; 

 two of which were immature, and unripe. 

 Thc^e latter dried iii> and developed nothing. 

 From the other five were developed about 

 two hundred, or more, flies, of which I se- 

 cured twenty-five or thirty, and the others 

 escaped ; I also secured about the .same num- 

 ber of the lavni, and a few puprc. 



The eggs of these flies must have been de- 

 posited in or on the grapes before I received 

 them, for after they were enclosed in the jar 

 nothing could have approached them. When 

 the flies were developed it was impossible for 

 them to escape, hence no fly coidd have got- 

 ten into the jar. 



It is possible, however, that these flies only 

 deposit their eggs in grapes after they have 



commenced to rot ; a condition produced by 

 other causes. 



October 31st I introduced a number of the 

 above described flies into one of the jars in 

 which there had been no evidence of the pres- 

 ence of the flies on the 19th of October, and to- 

 day I find a goodly number of lai-vm and pupw, 

 and also a slightly increased number of the per- 

 fect flies, from which it is apparent that under 

 favorable conditions, they pass to the pupse 

 state at least, in the short space of about tea 

 days, from the egg. This is further evidenced 

 by the /■(((•?, that in the jar in which no flies 

 were introduced the grapes are rotting away 

 without developing anything but a crop of 

 funiji. 



Another coincidence is the fact, that after 

 the flies were introduced into the jar no more 

 fuwji were developed, in that on the '21st 

 there was a rank crop of this cryptogam, 

 whilst on the 3lst there was little or none 

 visible in a living condition. No sound grapes 

 were placed in either of the jars, so that I am 

 not able to state whether these flies deposit 

 their eggs on sound fruit or not. 



But what became of the larva; of the 

 "Grape codling," or "Grapeberry moth V" 

 As before stated, some of the grapes dissected, 

 at the time of bottling them, contained these 

 larva;, and I expected to develop the moths, 

 but none have appeared, nor was a vestige of 

 them present in any of the grapes infested by 

 the maggots of the flies, all of which were 

 thoroughly explored. Did they die and were 

 subsequently devoured by the maggots ? Pos- 

 sibly none of the bottled grapes contained 

 them, but they presented the same appearance 

 as those that did contain them. I record 

 another fact in regard to the tenacity of this 

 fly. I confined some of them in a small tin 

 box, where they have been kept for ten or 

 eleven days and they are not now only alive, 

 but also very lively. 



If this fly deposits its eggs on sound grapes 

 it aiay become the most formidable enemy to 

 that lucious fruit that it is known to have, 

 for it is capable of rearing a brood every ten 

 or twelve days from their earliest ripening 

 until the first of November, if not longer. 



I had seen similar tflies frequently, but I 

 knew not from whence they came, but in this 

 instance I observed the development of the 

 insect in all its stages, except that of the egg, 

 and I concluded my observations on the 21st 

 of October. Whether the evolution from the 

 pupa would have occurred the present season, 

 had the grapes been left out in the weather is 

 more than I can attest, but they were brought 

 into the house. Their evolution, however, 

 commenced in the absence of any artificial 

 heat, and at a place where the temperature 

 was lower than it was out in the sun. A 

 "grape maggot" may be common, but its 

 identification with the fly that produces it, is 

 n w to me, hence this recorded experience. 



I'rhis is witliout a doubt, the *' Wine-loving pomace 

 tly" i rirosoithUa ampelophita) referred to in the U. S. 

 EntomoloKists Report for 1881-I8S2. (.See proceedinfirs 

 of the I.inniean -Society in November number of the 

 Lancastfr Fanner. 



To Prevent Iron from Rusting. — Ker- 

 osene applied with a cloth to stoves will keep 

 them from rusting during the Summer. It is 

 also an excellent material to apply to all iron 

 utensils used about a farm. 



