ANT 



[46 ] 



ANT 



gardener who sees his young onions, 

 when about the thickness of a straw, 

 turning yellow, and the leaves sunk down 

 upon the ground, may at once know that 

 they are the victims of this insect. Even 

 when of larger growth the onion is still 

 .liable to suffer from its attacks, and even 

 *up to the time of the bulb's full growth. 

 If the outer coats of a young onion thus 

 destroyed are stripped off, the grub is at 

 once detected; but if the onion is older, 

 the grubs are often numerous. In both 

 cases they will be found feeding on the 

 very heart of the onion. The grub varies 

 from about a quarter to half an inch 

 long, is fleshy, shining, whitish, cylin- 

 drical, tapering from the head to the tail, 

 and divided into twelve segments. The 

 pores through which it breathes are yel- 

 low, and in the first segment. In about 

 three weeks from the time of being 

 hatched it changes into a chesnut-co- 

 loured, oval pupaiium, or case, within 

 which is the real pupa. From this, in 

 about a fortnight, the perfect fly comes 

 forth, of the size of the cross lines, and 

 appearing as magnified in our drawing. 



This is the female, and is entirely of a 

 pale, ashy colour, covered with black 

 bristles. The male has a black line 

 down the middle of the abdomen. The 

 antennas and legs are black ; the wings 

 are transparent, almost colourless, but 

 irridescent pink and green. The female 

 inserts her eggs within the leaf-sheaths 

 of the onion, close to the ground, She 

 continues to lay her eggs from May to 

 September, producing several broods dur- 

 ing that peiiod. The latest brood re- 

 mains in. the pupa state through the 

 winter, so that all old-decaying store- 

 onions should be burnt up as spring ad- 

 vances. The best preventive of this grub 

 is to sprinkle gas-lime between the rows 

 of seeding-onions, its fumes being offen- 

 sive to the fly. It may be well, also, to try 



spreading powdered charcoal among thorn 

 in a similar way, for the fly is said to 

 deposit her eggs in this powder as readily 

 as in the onion-plants. 



A. bra'ssica, cabbage-fly, says Mr. 

 Curtis, is found through the .summer, 

 and is the parent of a maggot which has 

 been known to lay waste whole fields of 

 cabbages, by diseasing the roots on which 

 they feed, as well as at the base of the 

 stalk. Successive generations are feed- 

 ing until November ; the latter families 

 lying in the pupa state through the win- 

 ter, and most probably some of the flies 

 survive that season, secreted in holes and 

 crevices. When the cabbage-leaves as- 

 sume a lead or yellow colour, and droop 

 in mid-day from the effect of the sun, 

 such plants, being diseased, should be 

 taken up, carried away, -and burnt, and 

 brine or lime put into the holes. Gar- 

 deners, in some instances, have collected 

 large quantities of the pupae from the 

 roots by drawing away the earth. 



The male of A. bra'ssicce is dark, bright 

 grey, with black bristles; there is a 

 black stripe half way down the middle 

 of the thorax, and a curved one on each, 

 side ; the body has a more decided black 

 stripe down the centre, and the segments 

 are marked by a line of the same colour: 

 legs and antennae blackish ; wings a little 

 smoky. The female is pale, ashy grey ; 

 the eyes remote, with a dark chesnut- 

 coloured stripe on the crown ; the winge 

 are similar* in tint to those of tile fore- 

 going species, but the insects are consi- 

 derably smaller. Gardener's Cltronicle. 



A. lactu'cce, lettuce-fly. Mr. Curtis says 

 the larvaa make their appearance in Au- 

 gust, but are abundant in September; 

 they closely resemble those from the cab- 

 bage and turnips, being of a yellowish- 

 white colour, tapering towards the head, 

 which is pointed, and armed with two 

 short, black claws at the nose. These 

 maggots live in the involucra of different 

 varieties of lettuce, feeding upon the 

 seeds and receptacle ; and when these 

 are consumed, they wriggle themselves 

 out backward, either to enter another 

 seed-vessel or fall to the ground and 

 become pupae. 



When the seed-stems are gathered and 

 dying, the larvae change to pupse, called 

 shucks, in Surrey, being bright chesnut- 

 coloured,- oval cases, which are rough, 

 when examined under a lens, with two 

 minute tubercles at the head, and two 



