190 
Obsei'vations on the various Insects 
Meip^en,* which is, I think, correctly considered as a variety only 
of T. Danci, breeds in the cells ot the flower-heads of thistles. 
This Dipterous fly was named by Linna?ust 
11. T . solstilialis. Its head and horns are reddish-ochre; eves 
green ; thorax olive-green ; scutellum yellow ; abdomen black, 
with a long black horny oviduct in the female ; wings with 2 or 3 
smoky bars, and the apex is margined with the same; legs 
ochreous : length of male, 1| line ; of female, 3 lines. 
Parsnip-roots do not seem to suffer any very material injury 
from the insects which attack them and their allied neighbour the 
carrot, and they may be grown successfully upon a heavier soil. 
Parsnips certainly get rusty in the spring, and even in January I 
have detected the larvge of Psila Rosa in them, which is already 
described as so destructive to carrots, but the inroads of these 
larvae do not destroy the flavour of the parsnip, as they do of the 
carrot : neither do parsnips fall a sacrifice to the apliideSy nor are 
the young plants carried off by wireworms, caterpillars, or the 
maggots of the crane-fly {Ti-pula oleracea).\ The leaves are 
frequently blistered by the same insect which infests celery-leaves, 
and I shall therefore proceed to its history. 
Tephritis Onopordinis; the Parsnip and Celery miner. 
Tepliritis is a group of lively flies, which delight in the sun- 
shine, when they run fluttering over bright leaves, vibiating their 
beautifully spotted wings, which are carried erect, somewhat like 
those of the butterflies. About 50 species inhabit this country, § 
but with the exception of T. Onopordinis, another named T. Ar- 
teinisice, whose maggots mine the leaves of the garden chrysan- 
themums, and possibly T. solstitialis, alluded to on the preceding 
page, there are none that are guilty of any injury to cultivated 
plants, I believe. A great number of them infest thistles and 
other Syngenesiee. 
T. Onopordinis I have bred as early as March; but from the 
middle of May to the end of July, the flies may be seen in sunny 
days in gardens, hedges, at the skirts of woods, or wherever such 
flowers grow as are an agreeable resort for the males. The 
female runs over the leaves of the celery and parsnip, and with 
her telescopiform oviduct she no doubt pierces the cuticle and 
deposits her eggs, apparently singly ; these hatch and produce 
little transparent maggots, which feed upon the parenchyma, or 
* ' Syst. Besch. Eiijop. Ins.,' vol. v. p. 328. 
t ' Fauna Suecica,' No. 1879. 
% Journal of Roy. Agr. Soc, vol. viii. p. 413. 'Gardener's Chroii,,' 
vo). i. p. 012. 
§ Cuitis s ' Brit. Ent.,' fol. and pi. 241. ' Guide,' Genus 1300. 
