GRAMINEOUS CHOPS. 81 



corn crops. The female pierces, by means of its saw-like 

 ovipositor, a hole in the young com stem, and lays an 

 egg therein. The white larva or maggot (Fig. 33 B and 

 C), which is hatched in ahout ten days, feeds on the sap 

 and soft tissues in the interior of the stems of the barley 

 or wheat plants, causing great injury. The larvse are 

 provided with powerful jaws, capable of cutting furrows 

 in the stem of the host-plant. The larvae ultimately spin 

 silken cocoons, in which they hibernate in the stems of 

 the stubble. In the following spring they turn to pupae, 

 making their appearance as perfect insects about May. 

 The perfect insect has four wings which are iridescent. 

 The body is black with yellow markings. "Prom ten 

 to a dozen eggs are laid by each female, and are deposited 

 singly in the stems of the corn plants not far from where 

 the ears are forming, whose situation is divined with 

 wonderful instinct." 



Prevention. — (1) Plough in deeply all infested stub- 

 bles. (2) " Scarifying, or cultivating, the land and 

 burning the stubble harrowed together would also be 

 useful, though not so sure as ploughing it in." 



Cure. — All infested lands, after ploughing in the stubble, 

 should be treated with quicklime, salt, or gas-lime, for 

 these substances destroy the larvae of this farm pest. 



The Fusisporium of Barley {Fusisporium Jiordei, 

 Fig. 34) attacks the ears of barley. The infested grains 

 of barley become covered with orange or scarlet-coloured 

 mycelium and conidia of this fungoid growth. The 

 fungus is allied to another species of the same genus, 

 viz., F. solani (already described). The crescent-shaped 

 spores ultimately separate and become globular conidia, 

 which rest for a short time, but finally give rise to new 

 mycelia. The fungus obtains nourishment from the entire 



