AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 145 



manure in cellar until wanted for use and keeping cellar dark so no 

 flies would stay there and covering manure immediately I am clear 

 of the pest. Whoever uses barn-yard manure, or manure that is 

 stacked will find plenty of them. For proof examine droppings of 

 cattle in pasture and around buildings and enough of these pests 

 will be found at some stage in the manure. Hoping this may 

 help some as a suggestion I send it. 



Very truly, 



Moses A. Fowler. 



The following is our answer somewhat changed and extended 

 for publication : 



Oeono, Me., Sept. 23, '92. 

 Mr. Moses A. Fowler : 



Dear Sir : — You and I have different ideas about cut- worms. 

 According to my understanding the term cut-worm is restricted by 

 entomologists to the larval or caterpillar stage of Hawk Moths 

 such as I have figured in my Report, Figs. 4, 6 and 7 and is not 

 used in the broad sense suggested by you, which would include all 

 worms that eat or cut the roots or other parts of farm crops. 



The yellow insects to which you refer belong to the Order 

 Dieptera or two-winged flies, related to the house-fly and in their 

 worm stage should be called maggots. Our root crops are often 

 affected by maggots, as the maggot of the Radish Fly and that of 

 the Onion Fly, but these do not cut off the plants like cut-worms 

 but bore into the roots. The moths of cut-worms lay their eggs 

 near the roots on grass in meadows and pastures and not in 

 manure piles. The white grubs found in manure are the larvae or 

 worm stage of beetles (Coleoptera) like the May Beetle and 

 related species. Though the housing of manure is to be 

 recommended to prevent leaching and no doubt if properly 

 protected would be less infested with manure loving larvae, but 

 cut-worms do not seek such a nidus for their eggs. 



Your crops were probably affected by the maggot of some fly, or 

 more probably the grub of some beetle, or possibly by gen- 

 uine cut -worms that had crawled from adjoining meadow or pasture 

 lands. It may have been the grub of the Three-toothed Aphonus 



