44 



KITCHEN-GARDEN PESTS AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM. 



BY THE REV. THOMAS W. FYLES, SOUTH QUEBEC. 



In writing on insect pests I have not hoped to tell of any new discoveries. 

 My ohject has been to present in a concise form, for the use of husbandmen and 

 hous wives, such particulars as I have thought might be interesting and useful 

 to them. I have wished to do my part towards the making of the annual reports 

 of the Entomological Society of Ontario handy repertories of practical informa- 

 tion. 



I shall in this paper tell of kitchen-garden pests, grouping them as flies, lice^ 

 beetles, butterflies and moths. 



Flies {Order, Diptera). 



The Eadish Fly (Anthomyia raphani. Harris). — This fly appears in the- 

 end of June and the beginning of July. It is rather less than half an inch in 

 expanse of wings. Its colour is ash grey. The wings are transparent with a 

 yellowish tinge at the base. The halteres or balancers are yellow. The face is 

 silvery. The eyes are copper-coloured. The insect la^^s its eggs on the stems of 

 the radish near the ground. The newly -hatched maggots penetrate the swelling 

 roots, enlarging their mines as they grow and filling them with frass, rendering 

 the radishes quite unfit for food. When full grown the maggots leave the root 

 and change to pupae in the soil. The full grown maggot is about a quarter of an 

 inch long, truncated at the end and gradually tapering to a point at the head. 

 This is furnished with a pair of black nippers. At the truncated end of the 

 creature may be seen the outer prolongations of the two main tracheae, and round 

 the edge of it a number of teeth or tentaculse. The general colour of the maggot 

 is shining white. 



I have found that radishes sown on rich soil as soon as the frost is out of the 

 ground — at Quebec, as soon as the snow disappears, that is to say in the begin- 

 ning of May — will generally attain a growth of an inch and a quarter in diameter 

 before they begin to show the operations of the maggot. I have this year made 

 three sowings. The first, in May, was a success. Of the second, made early in 

 June, about half of the radishes were fit for the table. Of the third, made in the 

 end of the month, hardly any were eatable. They grew to a large size, but were 

 bored through and through by the maggots. These were operating as late as 

 October. On the 21st of November I had a number of roots dug up from under 

 the snow. They contained no maggots, but showed recent traces of them and 

 holes at the lower side where the creatures had made their exit into the soil. 



The remedies that have been suggested against the radish fly have been such 

 as by their foul smell are likely to drive the fly away, carbolic acid, gas-lime, etc. 

 I have not much faith in such protectives. It seems to me that those who would 

 raise late radishes must do so in frames covered, not with glass, but with fine 

 netting fastened to slats. 



The OniOxV Fly (Phorhia ceparum, Meigen). — This fly (Fig. 11) also 

 appears in June. It is ash-coloured and is set sparsely with black 



