340 



JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTO^IOLOGY 



[Vol. 8 



number of flies had decreased perceptibly. Those seen were mostly 

 males and the few females observed were not ovipositing. Pupae were 

 still present. After this date field work was discontinued. 



Feeding Habits of the Adults.— Adults of both sexes seemed to 

 feed exclusively upon pollen from the corn. Feeding was done in a 

 more or less systematic manner. The flies would often hold an anther 

 with their fore legs and, beginning at one end, would consume the 

 pollen along its whole length. 



The females were easily approached while they hovered about the 

 tassels and it was not difficult to catch them with forceps when at rest. 

 The males, however, exhibited a greater ''shyness," and could rarely 

 be obtained in this manner. 



OviPosiTioN. — Most of the eggs were deposited in gtoups in the 

 staminate flowers, although a few, reposing singly, could be found on 

 the leaves and other parts of the plants. The groups, which were 

 always found on the inner surface of the glumes, contained as few as 

 two or as many as nineteen eggs. The actual number laid by a single 

 female was not ascertained. 



The female, when ready to oviposit, alights on a stem, moves along 

 until a suitable flow^er is reached whereupon she reverses her position 

 and feels the way with her ovipositor to the inner surface of the 

 glumes. 



Feeding Habits of the Larv^. — Young larvae were found in the 

 staminate flowers, but seemed to leave them after a short time and to 

 collect in greatest abundance in the axils of the leaves. Many were 

 also seen in depressions along the midrib of the lower leaves where 

 pollen had accumulated. That they fed largely on pollen was corrob- 

 orated by actual observation and by examinations of the digestive 

 tract. Larvae were often seen in the silk, but never as abundantly as 

 in the axils of the leaves. Just prior to pupation, the larvae usually 

 abandoned the axils of the leaves and wandered about over the 

 plant. 



No deleterious effects of the larvae upon the corn were noticed at 

 Jobstown and in this respect these observatiqns are in harmony with 

 previous studies in New Jersey and Delaware. Whether or not the 

 larvae in the axils of the leaves fed upon plant exudations was not 

 ascertained, but it was certain, if such feeding occurred, it did not 

 appreciably injure the corn. Nor was there evidence to show that 

 enough pollen was consumed to reduce the yield in the experimental 

 plots where other studies were under way. 



Pupation. — On September 12, a count was made to determine the 

 preferred place for pupation with the following result: 



