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NEW TOBK STATE MUSEUM 



them on the injured mushrooms. If so, it is not improbable that the 

 mushrooms may have decayed before they were eaten by the larvae. 

 Unfortunately, none of the larvae were preserved at the time, so that 

 no study may be given them at the present. 



Injury to Mushrooms by the Fungus Gnats. 



I have not met with any direct statement of injury to mushrooms by 

 Sciara, nor is it established that serious injury to cultivated mush- 

 rooms is inflicted by any of the large family to which it belongs, 

 although the following named species are among those that are 

 recorded as " feeding on mushrooms" in Europe; Mycetobia pallipes 

 Meig., on Boleti ; Mycetophila signata Meig., on Boletus edulis ; M. 

 lunata M., on Agaricus vitrinus ; Bymosia fenestralis M., on Agari- 

 cus melleus • Exechia fungorum Dg., on Boletus ; Bocosia sciarina 

 M., on Boletus scabra and B. edulis ; Boletina, several species; Boli- 

 tophila cinerea M. ; B. fusca M. ; B. disponcta Loew; Plesiastina 

 annulata M.; Sciophila striata M., on "mushrooms." A recent 

 English writer on the Diptera,f states: " Some of the fungus gnats 

 [Mycetophilidce] are certainly inj irious, as the species that live upon 

 the 'mushroom,' whole frames of this edible fungus being destroyed 

 by these larvae; but the amount of damage done is small compared 

 to the amount of good which these maggots do in destroying 

 fungi." And again: "The larvae of these gnats act as 'scavengers ; 

 not only do they do away with rotting fungi, but they cause these 

 often injurious productions to putrefy and to become scarce by their 

 destruction." 



What the Manure-Fly Is ? 

 Specimens of the fly were submitted to Mr. R. R. Meade, of 

 England, for comparison with European species. He could not 

 identify them with any species known to him, but they approached 

 somewhat nearly to S. nervosa. 



Probably a Harmless Species. 

 Some of the flies were also sent to Mr. William Falconer, of Glen 

 Cove, N. Y., with the inquiry if he had ever found them troublesome 

 in his extensive greenhouse experience or in his mushroom growing. 

 He replied that he was familiar with their appearance from having 

 known them for many years — ever since he had been led to study 

 insects and their habits. They always appeared about hotbeds or 

 where there was pretty well-advanced fermenting horse manure, and 

 for this reason he had given them the name of " manure -flies." 



t Theobald: An Account of British Flies, 1692. 



