ENEMIES AND DISEASES 57 



down the very centre of the heart of the bulb to the 

 base, where they seem generally to make a small hole 

 through, possibly to act as a cloaca, and then they turn 

 upwards to finish their course, emerging again by the 

 same road [almost exactly at the spot where] they 

 entered. I have found young grubs embedded in the 

 centre of the bulb-neck, and on cutting open the bulbs 

 they have been as yet perfectly sound." Sometimes two 

 holes will be observed in the infested bulb, one at the 

 base, and one higher up. As to this, Mr Wilks says, 

 "in the case of two distinct holes, I believe the one in 

 the shoulder generally has been made by a half-grown 

 grub migrating to a new home and boring its way in ; 

 it then bores on to make its sewage-hole at the base, 

 and, having done this, fattens itself up upon the sub- 

 stance of the bulb." After leaving the bulb, the grub 

 buries itself in the surrounding earth, becomes trans- 

 formed into a chrysalis, and so remains until the follow- 

 ing spring, when the flies issue forth about the month 

 of May. The grubs are smooth and oval in shape, of 

 a yellowish-white colour, and, when full grown, about 

 half an inch long ; and the chrysalis is much wrinkled, 

 and very much resembles the grub in appearance. 



When the harvested bulbs are found to have such 

 holes as have been spoken of it is a sufficient intimation 

 of their being infested by the Narcissus grub, but these 

 holes are not always to be seen until a later date than 

 the proper time for planting the bulbs. If, however, 

 the necks of apparently sound bulbs, when pinched, feel 

 soft and spongy mischief should be suspected, and an 

 examination made, and all infested bulbs destroyed ; there 

 is no method of killing the grubs within, which will not 

 also destroy the bulb. Such careful hand-picking of the 

 bulbs during the first three weeks of August will tend 

 greatly to diminish the pest, and many of the flies may 

 be caught and killed in May and June with a butterfly- 



