The Hop Cone Fly, Fever Fly. Dilophus vulgaris.

Fig. II. Dilophus Vulgaris.

Female Fly, magnified and nat. size, flying round Hop cones.

This is one of the numerous species of Tipulid œ, of the sub-family Bibionides, according to Westwood. Several of those species do much injury to plants both in their larval state, in which they bear more or less resemblance to the larvæ of the common Daddy Longlegs, and in their winged state. According to Taschenberg asparagus, ranunculi, barley, rye, and other plants are attacked by different species. Curtis speaks of this larva as injuring potatoes. The larvae of the Dilophus vulgaris were found in hop roots in Kent, as Miss Ormerod reports; and the flies were found in hop cones at Rainham, in Kent, towards the end of August. Hop cones were sent to the writer from the neighbourhood of Maidstone full of these flies, which had evidently much injured the cones. The male fly is black and smaller than the female, whose colour is rather lighter. Miss Ormerod says that this fly sometimes appears in large swarms, especially upon the Norfolk coast in 1862, when it was recorded as hanging in millions on flowers, and in bunches on grasses.