INSECT AND OTHER ENEMIES. 
127 
yard. On account of their habits they are regarded 
with much ill-favor. They hop about the house and 
are continually running over the mushrooms, beds, and 
walls, in the most suspicious manner. But, notwith¬ 
standing this, I am inclined to regard them as perfectly 
harmless so far as injuring the mushroom crop is con¬ 
cerned, except the fact that they soil the mushrooms 
somewhat by their traveling over them with their 
muddy feet. 
In attempting to get rid of the maggot fly I have 
destroyed large numbers of these little innocents, but 
without any apparent diminution in their numbers. 
Lachaume recommends : “ These flies may be destroyed 
by placing about a number of pans filled with water to 
which a few drops of oil of turpentine have been added. 
The flies are attracted by the odor and drown themselves. 
They may also be caught with a floating light, in which 
they will burn their wings and fall into the water.” I 
have found that pure buhach powder dusted into the 
air or burned on a hot shovel in the mushroom house 
has been more effective in destroying these flies than 
either the lamp or drowning process. 
Slugs.—These are serious pests in the mushroom 
house, especially in above-ground structures, and they 
also occur in annoying numbers in cellars. Wherever 
hay or straw is used in covering the beds, or there is 
much woodwork about the house, slugs appear to be 
most numerous. They are very fond of mushrooms and 
attack them in all stages, from the tiny button just 
emerging from the ground to the fully developed plant. 
In the case of the buttons or small mushrooms they 
usually eat out a piece on the top or side of the cap, and 
as the mushroom advances in growth these wounds 
spread open and display an ugly scar or disfigurement. 
They also bite into the stems. But in the case of fresh, 
full grown mushrooms they seem to have a particular 
