April 21, 1S97.] 



Garden and Forest. 



155 



covered with tawny colored hairs, and the remaining part 

 of the abdomen with bright yellow-brown hair. A com- 

 mon type among- the females has the thorax covered with 

 bright ferruginous hairs, the fore and hinder parts of the 

 abdomen covered with paler hair and with a black band 

 across the middle portion. As in most flies, the eyes are 

 very large, appearing to form the principal part of the head. 

 They are black, and sparingly covered with microscopic 

 brown hairs. In the males the eyes are near together, 

 touching at one part ; in the females they are well sepa- 

 rated by a brown hair-covered ridge which broadens from 

 the top toward the mouth parts. The legs are black or dark 

 brown and more or less covered with black or gray or 



Fig. iS. — Merudon equestris, a Narcissus pest. — See pjge 154. 



• 1. Male fly, natural size. 2. Female fly, natural size. 3. Posterior leg of mnle, 

 enlarged. 4. Posterior leg of female, enlarged. 5. Antenna, enlarged. 6. Wing, 

 enlarged. 7. Larva, natural size. S. Anal segments of larva, enlarged, 9. Pupa, 

 natural size. 10. Section of Amaryllis bulb, showing destructive work of larva and 

 hole made for exit. 



tawny-colored hair. The generic name of Merodon was 

 given on account of a small tooth-like projection on the 

 lower end of the femur of the posterior leg. 



So far as known only one or two eggs are deposited at 

 each plant, and the female appears to deposit them near the 

 base of the leaves above ground in May or June, when the 

 plants are out-of-doors. Upon hatching, trie young larva 

 is said to work its way into the bulb by burrowing 

 between the scales, and once in its heart, it makes a large 



cavity from which it only emerges when fully grown. 

 Usually only one larva occurs in each bulb, but more may 

 sometimes be found. It is not easy to detect infested bulbs 

 until the maggots are nearly fully grown and the bulbs 

 soften because of the ravages in the interior. Sometimes 

 the entrance of the maggot may be detected by a minute 

 brown streak showing where it entered between the scales 

 at the top of the bulb. 



Apparently, the first account of the Narcissus Fly is that 

 given and figured by Reaumur in the fourth volume of his 

 celebrated Mimoires, published in 1738. He there states 

 that in November, several years previously, Bernard de 

 Jussieu had given him a number of bulbs of Narcissus in 

 which he found the larvae, and from which he bred the 

 flies. In 1792 Fabricius described it as Syrphus equestris, 

 afterward placing it in the genus Merodon. On account of 

 the variability of the insect it has received a number of 

 synonyms, among which appear to be Merodon flavicans, 

 M. cinereus, M. Narcissi, M. ferrugineus. M. transversalis, 

 M. constans, M. nobilis, M. tuberculatus and M. bulbo- 

 rum. 



The bulb growers of Holland have long known Merodon 

 equestris as a serious foe to Narcissus-culture, and we have 

 records of its presence in that country since before 1840. 

 It is generally considered as having been introduced into 

 Holland with bulbs from southern Europe, probably from 

 Italy. Various accounts of its ravages appeared from time 

 to time, and it was a frequent topic of discussion in meet- 

 ings of Dutch bulb growers, who found it difficult to combat 

 on account of its habits and little-known life-history. In 

 The Gardeners Chronicle for 1842 there is a figure and 

 account of the insect by the late John Curtis, who wrote 

 under the nom de plume of Ruricola, and this figure was 

 reproduced in the same journal in 1S77 and 18(35. The 

 same figure is given in Burbidge & Baker's monograph of 

 the Narcissus, published in 1875. Among other important 

 papers was one published by F. \V. van Eeden, of Haarlem, 

 in 1853, and one by A. C. Groenewegen, of Haarlem, 

 in 1883. The latter advised watching for weak plants 

 and those that failed to grow in spring, and their de- 

 struction if infested, and the searching for the chrysalids 

 which might be found near the surface of the ground 

 around the plants before they flowered. 



in May, 1882, Mr. J. H. Krelage, the well-known bulb 

 grower of Haarlem, sent specimens to Dr. J. Ritzema 

 Bos, with the request to make a complete study of the 

 pest, the results to be published at the expense of the 

 association of bulb growers of which Mr. Krelage was 

 president. The outcome was an elaborate paper, with two 

 plates of figures, entitled " La Mouche du Narcisse," pub- 

 lished in Archives du Musee Teyler, series 2, vol. li. , part 2, 

 Haarlem, 1885, and published also in the Dutch language. 

 In this exhaustive monograph the author gives the results 

 of various experiments in attempts to find means to combat 

 this insect. One, at first thought to be efficacious, was very 

 simple, and consisted of the immersion of the bulbs in 

 water for eight days before planting, this seeming to kill or 

 drive out the larvae. Further experiments, however, 

 showed him that immersion could not be relied upon 

 to kill the maggots, and this conclusion is verified 

 by Mr. Krelage in the Revue Horticole for 1889, who 

 states that the method most generally followed with suc- 

 cess is Groenewegen's plan already referred to. If the 

 spring is cold and wet when the flies are emerging from 

 pupae a large proportion of them may die without laying 

 eggs, and so there are periods of comparative immunity, 

 but after a few favorable seasons they again become 

 abundant. 



In Brookline, Narcissus-bulbs in a warm dry rockery 

 have been found much more liable to destruction than 

 those growing in low damp ground, and especially among 

 grass. Also, Hippeastrums under warm dry cultivation 

 have been found much more affected by the pest than 

 those grown under cool and moist conditions. Among 

 these beautiful and often high-priced flowers the Merodon 



