972 I. M. Haw ey 
_ Relation of time of bean planting to time of oviposition 
Eges may be deposited by Hylemyza cilicrura near decaying vegetable 
matter in newly plowed or recently fitted soil before the beans are planted, 
while they are being planted, or even after planting. In rare instances a 
combination of these two possibilities may be found. When the eggs are 
deposited previous to planting, the maggots feed on decaying matter in 
the vicinity for a while, becoming nearly full-grown before they enter the 
bean seed; but when the eggs are deposited subsequent to planting, small 
larvae will be found in the beans within a few days after they are planted. 
As examples of oviposition in the soil before the beans are planted, the 
following instances may be mentioned. In the experimental field at Perry, 
in 1919, one piece was plowed on May 14 and planted on May 28. When 
it was examined on June 5, many full-grown maggots were found. Allow- 
ing ten days for the larval period and two days for the egg stage, the eggs 
were probably deposited about May 24. A field that had been in alfalfa 
for several years was plowed for beans in May. Planting took place on 
June 6 and 7, and when the field was examined on June 12 the maggots 
present were ready to pupate. These maggots were hatched from eggs 
deposited probably about June 1. Maggots of about the same size were 
found in the old alfalfa roots. 
As illustrations of egg-laying either at the time of planting or subsequent 
to it, the following examples are given. In 1919 a field of beans was 
planted on June 2. When it was examined on June 9, maggots a few days 
old were found. [lies were very common in the field on June 2 when the 
seed was drilled in. Beans were planted in a test plot on the experimental 
field on June 5. On June 10, when these were examined, some contained 
newly hatched maggots. Ina field in Niagara County beans were planted 
on June 9. Small maggots were found feeding on the plumule leaves on 
June 14. 
In the rainy year of 1917, when H. cilicrura could be found everywhere, 
fields were inspected late in June. Small and large maggots were found in 
the beans, pupae were in the soil, and flies with eggs in all stages of develop- 
ment were hovering over the ground. It is only late in the spring of very 
wet years that all stages can thus. be found simultaneously. In more 
normal years the flies seem to appear in roughly defined broods, and the 
heavy oviposition of each brood does not extend over a period of more than 
a week. 
From the foregoing data it is evident that a grower cannot be sure that 
maggots are not already working on other matter in the soil at the time 
when he plants his beans. Moreover, if mature flies are numerous at 
planting time, his beans may be infested with maggots from eggs deposited 
at that time. 
In 1919 an attempt was made to connect the time of fly emergence and 
the time of oviposition with some of the more obvious occurrences in 
