INSECT INJURIES. 



11 



them, or by the grubs of the " crane-fly/' or "carrot plant- 

 louse." It is not, however, so subject to the attack of the 

 flies (Psila rosce and P. nigricornis) causing the "rust" in 

 the carrot, but is liable to injuries from the attacks of a fly 

 peculiar to it, the "parsnip-leaf miner" Tephvitis ono- 

 pordinis a beautiful tawny- coloured fly, which lays its 

 eggs on the leaves of the plant, the pale green-coloured 

 maggot feeding on the pulp, and forming large blisters 

 and spots on the leaves, and of course destroying their 

 functions. They eventually change to pupse, from which 

 the fly emerges about March or April, continuing to 

 haunt our fields until about the end of July. For- 

 tunately a parasitic ichneumon fly the Alysia apii is 

 hatched about June, which materially checks the increase 

 of an enemy so destructive 

 to the health and welfare of 

 our field and garden plants. 

 The remedies recommended 

 at p. 482, vol. i., are equally ap- 

 plicable here; and as regards 

 the leaf-mining maggots, the 

 best method is to destroy 

 them by pinching the small 

 blisters as soon as they ap- 

 pear on the leaves. The 

 parsnip, when being grown 

 for seed purposes, is greatly 

 injured by the same class of 

 small caterpillars described 

 (p. 481, vol. i.) as infesting the 

 flower -heads of the carrot. 

 They all belong to the order 

 Lepidoptera, and to the genus Depressaria. The mem- 

 bers most commonly found on the parsnip umbels are the 

 D. depressella, or parsnip -seed flat-body moth, and the 



1. Common flat-body Moth (Depressaria 

 cicutella). 2 and 3. Do. at rest (natural 

 size). 4. Caterpular of do. 5 and 6. Pupa 

 (natural length). 7. Do. rolled up in leaf of 

 plant (natural length). 



