CLOVER-LEAF MIDGE. 



doiiP by the matnrp beetle. The weevils are voraeiojis eaters, 

 consuming ovory part of tlu' jilant above the earth, an«l like most 

 weevils feeding by night and hiding by day in erevices in the 

 earth or among the stems of the plants. Tiike the larva' the;; 

 are very timid, and fall at the slightest jar of the jdants. It 

 feeds on all kinds of elover, red, white, and alsike. The beetles 

 in duly and August often do very serious danuige, conipleting 

 the work of destruction so well begun by the larvju at an earlier 

 date. 



Dr. Riley expresses an opinion, possibly born of hope, that this 

 insect will not spread. I have already shown how it may easily 

 be earried far west, and as we already )uive seen, it surely is 

 spreading (piite rapidly, there is grave reason to fear its general 

 spread in the Northern T'^nited States. 



As we can not well use Paris green, it is probable that no bet- 

 ter thing can be done than to plow under the elover in fields at- 

 tacked in May, at whitdi time the insects will be in the larva 

 state, and so probably killed by this treatment. If we wait to 

 cut for iUiy many of the insects would have already pupated, and 

 so would come forth to new mischief the next year. 



It is probable that the various predaoeous insects will aid to 

 diminish the numbers of this pest, and in time the parasitic in- 

 sects here as well as in Europe will lielp to hold it in check. 



Cecidomyia trifolii, Leow, Clover-leaf Midge. 



Order Dipfcra. FamiJij Ccchlomiiidnc. 



Loew Verhandl. Zr.ol. Bot., Gesell,, XX., 14, p. 143, 1874. 



Comatock Ann. Kept. Coinm. Ag., 1879, pp. 197-199, 111. 



Lintner Rept. N. Y. Ag. Soc. 1882, p. 203, 111. 



Saunders Rept. Ontario En. Soc, Vol, XII., p. 45, 1881, 111. 

 This insect is so nearly like the far more destructive clovfir 

 seed midge, yet to be described, that only an expert could 

 distinguish them the one from the other. This species has only 

 been discovered about Washington, and unless it becomes more 

 widely distributed, or worse still, learns the habit of its near 



