INSECT AND OTHER PLANT ENEMIES. 



101 



years, and literally laugh at the mite. In 

 any case, encourage a healthy vitality in the 

 bulbs. 



Cabbage Fly (Anthomyia Brassicce). — This 

 fly has two wings, an ashy-gray hairy body, 



Fig. 127.— Cabbage Fly (Anthomyia Brassicce). 



1. Larva of A. Brassicce. 2 and 3. Pupae (natural size and magnified). 4. A. 

 radicum (magnified). 5. Natural size. 6-9. A. tuoerosa, larva and fly 

 (natural size and magnified). 



with three black lines on the shoulders between 

 the wings, and one stripe on the hinder part of 

 the body. The male is much darker. The v 

 grub is white, legless, smooth, tapers to a pointed 

 head, and is cut short at the tail-end, where it 

 is furnished with a few tooth-like points on the 

 lower side, and two curious knobs on the flattened 

 end. The pupa is reddish-brown, rests in the 

 soil during winter, and gives rise to the perfect 

 fly in spring, and which produces successional 

 broods till November. The grubs attack the 

 fleshy roots of Turnips, Eadishes, Cab- 

 bages, Cauliflowers, and others of the tribe, 

 forming hollows on the roots and collar of 

 the plant at or beneath the surface, often 

 causing great damage, and ruining early 

 crops especially. The leaves turn yellow 

 or flag under the influence of sunshine, 

 and the plants die or get broken off with 

 the wind. The Eoot-eating Fly (A. radi- 

 cum) is closely allied; and its yellowish 

 grubs tunnel the roots of Cabbages, Tur- 

 nips, Radishes, and other plants. Its pupa 

 is yellowish. Another congener (A . tuberosa) 

 bores into the tubers of Potatoes ; its grub 

 is bristly with hairs. The first- named is 

 the most common and destructive. 



Remedies. — The grubs of the first-named 

 may be destroyed and the crops saved, if 

 taken in hand in good time by well watering 

 the roots with lime-water after being allowed to 

 settle and become clear. Badly-infested plants of 

 little value should be carefully dug up and burnt 

 with the grubs upon them. Valuable, early 

 plants may be saved by drawing away the soil 



from the collar and squeezing the grubs with 

 the fingers, then watering them with strong 

 soap-suds, lye of wood ashes, or superphosphate 

 of lime, which would act as fertilizers as well 

 as insecticides. Rotation cropping should be 

 observed, and the ground deeply trenched in 

 winter, which would bury the pupae of all the 

 three flies if present. 



Cabbage Gall Weevil (Ceuthorhynchw 

 sulcicollis). — The perfect weevil is 1J inch long, 

 black, and somewhat shining, but thinly covered 

 with gray scales above and densely so beneath. 

 The wing-cases are finely furrowed, and pitted 

 with some tubercles near the end. The head 



Fig. 128.— Cabbage Gall Weevil (Ceutorhynchus sulcicollis). 



Earth-case of the larva. 2. Case in its chamber (both magnified). 

 3. Cabbage root with galls. 



is drawn out to a slender curved beak bearing 

 the elbowed horns. The legless, fleshy-white 

 maggots may be found in the centre of galls or 

 small tubers on the main or secondary roots of 



dSSiD 



Fig. 129.— Turnip Gall Weevil (Ceutorhynchus pleurostigma). 



1. Turnip injured by the Turnip Gall Weevil. 2. Excrescences or galls. 3. Ditto 

 opened. 4. Grubs (natural size and magnified) found in them. 5. Weevil 

 (natural size and magnified). 



the Cabbage and Turnip at various times of the 

 year. 



Remedies. — When young Cabbages are being 

 planted, reject all those having galls upon them, 

 or cut off the same with a sharp knife, and 

 puddle the roots in a mixture of water, clay, 



