BEHAVIOR OF THE MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT FLY 



(CERATITIS CAPITATA WIED.) 



TOWARDS KEROSENE 



HENRY H. P. SEVERIN, Ph.D. and HARRY C. SEVERIN, M.A. 



The following observations on the behavior of the Mediter- 

 ranean fruit fly toward kerosene were made in the field in Manoa 

 Valley, situated on the outskirts of the city of Honolulu, Hawaii. 

 On account of the abundance of rainfall in this valley, the kero- 

 sene traps used in our experiments consisted of pans three and 

 one-half inches in depth and twelve inches in diameter. Each 

 pan was wired to the lower branches of a fruit tree (Fig. 1). 



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Figure 1. Pan containing kerosene wired to the lower branches of a fruit tree, 



to trap the Mediterranean fruit fly. 



Enough kerosene was poured into each pan to cover the' bottom 

 so that in case of a heavy rain, the kerosene might overflow 

 directly to the ground and not injure the tree. After a light 

 or moderate rain such traps are probably just as effective as 

 when there is no precipitation, for the oil floats on the surface 

 of the water. 



The first problem which presented itself was to determine 

 whether the color of the pan containing the kerosene made any 



223 



