100 



ONION. 



Onion Fly. Anthomyia ceparuni, Boiiche = Phorhia cepetorum, Meade. 

 Shallot Fly. Anthomijia jdaUira, Meigen. 



Anthomyia cepaeum. 

 Onion Fly, maggot and pupa, magnified ; lines showing nat. size ; pupa in stored 



Onion. 



On the 20th of June the following communication as to Onion 

 maggot attack was sent me from Acle Villa, Cheltenham, by Mr. James 

 Eicketts, with specimens of the infestation accompanying: — "The 

 Onion crop in this neighbourhood is being devastated by a pest which 

 appeared two or three years ago, and seems to be getting worse every 

 year. One or more grubs enter and destroy the bulbs of the plants 

 affected. The leaves droop, and the Onion shortly dies. In some 

 places not moi*e than one in a hundred of the plants survive, and so 

 serious has the plague become, that many market gardeners have given 

 up their culture. 



" I have tried salt, lime, and soot as a top dressing, but without 

 success ; in fact I am inclined to think the application of the latter en- 

 courages the development of the grub." . . . "I am sending you 

 herewith a few samples of the affected bulbs with the grub, in situ." — 

 (J. K.) 



(Soot is one of the applications which has been reported as some- 

 times of use in checking attack ; still in my own experiments I found 

 that where I had only a few minutes before dusted soot on the Onion 

 bed, this did not appear to deter the Onion Fly from settling, even on 

 the soot itself. — Ed.) 



On June 27th, the following letter was sent me by Mr. Wm. 

 George (Hon. Sec. of the Greasley, Selston, and Eastwood Hort. Soc), 

 from Moorgreen, Nottingham : — " Several of the members of the Com- 



