STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
497 
CABBAGE PLY. MAGGOT DESCRIBED. 
ing this dirt the surface is found to be rough and warty, with 
little grooves here and there, in each of which is a maggot. 
Sometimes also a maggot is seen with only its anterior end imbed¬ 
ded in the turnip, leaving a third or half the length of its body 
projecting out therefrom. 
And I am unable to discover any point in which these worms in 
the roots of the cabbage and turnip differ from those in the radish, 
or any character by which the flies bred from the one can be dis¬ 
tinguished from those of the other. Nor from the descriptions of 
authors do I gather any marks whereby A. Brassiccn and radicum 
are well distinguished from each other. Curtis (Farm Insects, p. 
143,) states that the larva of the latter is similar to the former, 
but is of a yellowish olive color, the larva of A. Brassiccc being 
given as yellowish white. But, according to my observations, the 
larvse are invariably pure white when we tirst come upon them in 
their burrows in the roots ; and it is from exposure to the light 
that they acquire a yellow tinge, which becomes deeper as they 
are more exposed. And the flies seem, from the descriptions 
given by the same author, to be only different in this, that those 
ot the radicum have the face ochreous reflecting satiny white, with 
a rust colored stripe on the forehead, whilst in Brassicce the face 
is said to bo silvery gray, with a black streak on the forehead, in 
the female shading into chestnut color in front. The experienced 
observer will scarcely be able to persuade himself that these 
slight differences in color arc anything more than accidental and 
ot sufficient value to indicate a specific difference as existing 
between these insects. We know the larvae which occur in the same 
root are liable to have the two spiracles on the truncated tip of 
the body vary in their color from ochreous or cinnamon-yellow to 
smoky and black. But I have not examined the flies bred from 
the respective roots of the radish, cabbage and turnip, iu a suffi¬ 
cient number of instances to lead me to a decided opinion respect¬ 
ing their identity. 
I have noted the following characters as presented by the larvaa 
in the roots of cabbages. They occur of different sizes at the 
same date, the largest measuring 0.30 in length, They are foot¬ 
less and white, composed of ten or eleven visible segments. On 
the throat or underside of the pointed end the jaws appear as a 
hifid black internal streak. The hind end is bluntly cut oil' and 
[Ag.] 32 
