45 



second letter under date of January 18, 1889, in which Mr. Asmus 

 records the discovery of this pest in two other florists' establishments 

 in his neighborhood. 



In the same periodical for March, 1891 (p. 294), is a letter from Mr. 

 Benjamin Hammond, Fishkill, JS. Y., under date of October 25, 1890, 

 relating to the same or a similar pest wbich has destroyed many buds 

 of the Wooton rose grown under glass in his locality. 



More recently Mr. P. H. Dorsett, of this Department, has published 

 a short notice of an insect having the same habits, recording his obser- 

 vations of its attacks on the Meteor and La France roses grown under 

 glass in the vicinity of Washington, D. C. 



These are the only published references to Cecidomyian larvae' attack- 

 ing buds of roses in this country that have come under my notice, but 

 the note-books of this Division indicate that they have been received 

 from several localities besides those recorded above. 



June 2, 1891, Mr. A. B. Cordley, at that time in the employ of this 

 Division, detected larvae of this kind in 

 the buds of rose bushes in a florist's 

 establishment in this city; they were 

 under the sepals and usually occurred 

 singly, but sometimes in clusters of five 

 or six individuals. More of these larvae 

 were obtained by him on the 5th of the 

 following September, and from these the 

 adult flies were bred on the 15th of the 

 same month. 



April 30, 1894, larvae were received 

 from Mr. W. J. Stewart, Boston, Mass. 



On October 22 of the same year Mr. 

 Theodore Pergande, of this Division, 

 investigated an outbreak of insects of 

 this kind in one of the rose houses in 

 the vicinity of Washington, D. C, and reported that they were first 

 noticed by the owner three years previously, since which time they 

 had steadily increased in numbers. They confined their attacks to 

 the La France, Meteor, and Wooton roses, notwithstanding the fact 

 that other varieties were growing among them. The pests were the 

 most abundant during the latter half of the year, but became quite 

 scarce during the winter season. 



October 15, 1897, larvae were received from Mr. Walter 0. Wyman, 

 Chicago, 111., who stated in an accompanying letter that they infested 

 the buds of the La France and Meteor roses in a rose house in that city, 

 and that other varieties of roses were untouched. He was familiar 

 with the operation of this pest for the previous six years. 



In response to inquiry, Mr. L. E. Wood, Fishkill, N. Y., wrote that 

 this species, which was reported, as already stated, by Mr. Benjamin 



Fig. 27. — Neocerata rhodojjkaga : adult 

 iuuch enlarged, antenna more enlarged 

 at left (original). 



