400 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Diseased and Infested Mushrooms. 



Uuder date of May 3, 1889, Mr. Falconer sent for examination some 

 " diseased mushrooms," showing the " black-spot " as brown markings 

 on the surface of the caps which Dr. Farlow had pronounced the work 

 of AnguiUulidce. Adhering to the mushrooms by their wings were 

 numbers of the manure Sciara. Rather deep cavities had also been 

 eaten into them by slugs. " But the chief reason," he wrote, " why I 

 send you these, is to show you the crowning evil of mushroom culture, 

 namely the MAGGOTS. By cutting open the mushrooms you may 

 see numerous worm-holes in some of them, both in the caps and stems, 

 and no doubt can discover some of the maggots. They are tiny fel- 

 lows with a white body and black head, measuring about one-fifth or 

 one-sixth of an inch long, looking to me not much unlike the club-root 

 maggot in cabbage and cauliflower. 



The fly was not reared from this sending: possibly no larv?e were 

 found in them, for no examples are contained in the State collection. 

 This is a matter of regret, for if a conspicuous feature of the larva was 

 its " black head " it would indicate a different species from that obtained 

 in a later year in the autumn.* 



Two Insects Infesting an Agaricus. 

 On October 1, 1894, Mr. Falconer sent another package of infested 

 mushrooms which he had gathered icifieHs: they were " the new mush- 

 room" of Gardening, viz , Agaricus subr uf escens Peck, described in 

 V/, 1893, and an highly esteemed edible species. They 



^. . were swarming with larvae, by which, in a brief time j 



||^t|;. they were completely riddled. A number of the 



.- !arv. r e were preserved in alcohol for the State 

 f % f Z v-V ^ collection. 



Although not observed at the time, there were two 

 different larvoe feeding together in the mushrooms, for, 

 after pupation, two distinct forms were found — one 

 more than twice the size of the other, subelliptical in 

 Fl a 6 mus^oom U f?ed f f orm, concave ventrally, dark brown in color, and 

 tag fly- with lateral and terminal spinose processes. The 



puparium is represented in a ventral view in figure 6. 



Description of the Phora. 

 The small puparia disclosed a large number of the flies during the 

 month of October — the length of time after pupation was not noted. 

 They are not referable to any described species so far as known to me, 



* Mr. Falconer has probably confounded the black-headed Sciara larvae with these. 



