Report - Entomological Society of Ontario Volume 12 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 edition. Excerpt: ...been counted in a single flower head. No estimate has yet been made, to my know ledge, of the number of eggs which a single individual IS capable of producing, _ but doubtless this insect is very prolific. In about ten days the eggs hatch, when the young larva works its way down the tube of the flower to the seed, upon which it feeds. THE LARVA, on GRUB. The larvae when full grown are about one-twelfth of an inch long, usually of a bright orange-red colour, occasionally paler and sometimes almost white. They are footless, and have a wriggling, worm-like motion; they affect the clover heads in the same manner that the "Wheat Midge affects the wheat, and when mature they leave the clover heads, drop to the ground, and either work themselves a short distance under the ground or hide amongst dead leaves or other rubbish on the surface, and there enter upon the pupal stage of their existence. Figure 12 represents the larva highly magnified, the hair line at the side showing the natural size; at b the head is shown retracted, and more highly magnified. Each larva having fixed on a suitable location, spins for itself an oval, compressed, rather tough cocoon of fine silk, with particles of earth or other material adhering to the outside, which makes it extremely difiicult to discover them. Within this enclosure the larva changes to a chrysalis, which is of a pale orange colour with brown eyes; on the front of the head are two short conical tubercles, and behind these two long bristles. The sheaths in which the antennae are concealed are curved outward, much like the handles of an urn. The duration of the pupa state of the early brood is about ten days. When the fly is about to emerge, the chrysalis works its way out of the cocoon to the...