76 



ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Among the Cutworms, the two worst enemies of grain crops in Ontario are the 

 species referred to above and the Amputating Brocade Moth (Hadena arctica, 

 Bois.), and although it is probablethat the latter of these may feed on 

 other plants, the favorite food plants seem to be members of the Gra- 

 mineas or true grasses, upon the roots and lower stems of which they 

 feed in a similar manner to the Glassy Catworm. 



This Cutworm is a more troublesome pest when it attacks grain 

 crops, from the fact that the caterpillar does not become full-fed 

 until some time later. In an attack of this kind it is, of course, 

 necessary to examine the caterpillars to see how nearly they 

 are full-grown. In the case referred to above the cutworms of 

 the Devastating Dart Moth from Carleton Place were found to be 

 full-grown by the end of the first week in June, and the owners of 

 the field, who wished to sow their land again to oats, were advised 

 that this could be safely done. The land was cultivated at once, and 

 on the 8th of June was seeded down again to oats and grass. This 

 crop was not attacked at all because the caterpillars were all in the 

 chrysalis condition. This would not have been the case if the infesting 

 Cutworms had been the caterpillars of the Amputating Brocade Moth. 



Even less amenable to remedial treatment than the above are the 



/////// / various species of Wireworms 



Ai\c\C^ ( Fi S- 4 °)> wnich attack grain crops 



V^W:\V^ particularly on timothy sod. No 



Fig. 40. satisfactory remedy for these has 



as yet been discovered. Sowing rye or barley on infested land has 



been found useful by some, and late ploughing is highly recommended ; 



but no applications to the land or poisoning of the seed are of any avail. 



An interesting discovery has been made during the past summer 

 at Toronto, by Mr. C. W. Nash, and at Norwood, Ont., by Mr, T. W. 

 Wilkins, of a parasitic fungus belonging to the genus Cordyceps, which 

 was in both places destroying the wireworms in considerable numbers. 

 This fungus was much more slender than the one which is frequently! 

 figured as the parasite of the White Grubs (Cordyceps melolonthce, Tulasne) 

 (Fig. 41). So far, the identity of the wirewor'm destroying species has 

 not been obtained. It is probable that it is an undescribed species. 



The Wheat Midge (Diplosis tritici, Kirby), which a few years 

 ago worked such havoc in the wheat crop, seems almost to have dis- 

 appeared from Canada ; however, one district seems to have suffered 

 severely from this pest last season. This was along the shore of Lake 

 Ontario in the Niagara peninsula. Another pest, which did not appear 

 at all in 1898, is the American Frit Fly (Oscinis carbonaria, Loew.), 

 which in 1890 injured wheat very much in the eastern portions of 



'th 



Fig. 41. 

 the Province. 



For three years before that it had also been an enemy of meadow grasses. 



The Wheat-stem Maggot (Meromyza Americana, Fitch), although present in 

 most localities where looked for, seems lately to have gone back to a large extent to its 

 natural food plants, the wild native grasses. 



The most important attacks upon wheat, and these were by no means extensive or 

 severe, were by the old and well-known culprits, the Hessian Fly (Cecidomyia destructor, 

 Say) and the Joint-worm (Isosoma tritici, Riley). 



