July 2, 1908.] Agricultural Gazette of N.S. W. 581 



Gosford-Narara Fruit Fly and Codling Moth 

 Control Experiment. 



WM. B. (lURNEY, 



Assistant Entomologist. 



Codling Moth, though one of the most widespread orchard pests, may he 

 checked by spraying with an arsenical wash at the right time, and bandaging 

 the trees. The bandages are not [jut on merely to prevent the grubs crawling 

 past up the trees, but to form an attractive home to collect the grubs about 

 to pupate, and therefore the bandages require to be removed every week, and 

 the grubs and pupa?, to the last one, destroyed each time : otherwise, and as 

 too frequently happens, the bandages not being attended to, the orchardist is 

 merely providing a safe home for the m(jth, grubs and pupsc, and aiding the 

 increase of moths in his orchard. 



Fruit flies as yet have not been found susceptible to spraying or fuinigating, 

 and the only known methods are destroying all windfalls and infected fruit 

 found in orchards, shops, and markets, and therefore preventing the maggots 

 f rom de\eloping ; also scalding empty fruit cases which may have held infected 

 fruit, and thus destroying any pupa* within the cases. Useful results have 

 sometimes been gained by oil-traps, consisting of flat tins or china saucers 

 containins a little kerosene or other oil. As manv as 200 adults ha^-e been 

 captured in a couple of tins within three days. 



The life history of the connnon Mediterranean Fly, with variations 

 according to th^ season of the year, is briefly as follows : -The eggs are 

 inserted up to a quarter of an inch beneath the skin of the fruit l)y the 

 ovipositor of the female. From four to fourteen eggs may be found in a single 

 puncture. The eggs hatch within a few days, up to a week or two. The 

 giubs feed for a period from a couple of weeks to about six weeks, and then, 

 fully grown, crawl out of the fruit and pupate just below the surface of the 

 soil. The fruit usually has fallen to the ground by the time the grubs ar^^ 

 full-grown : if not, as in the case of Seville oranges, the grulis simply drop 

 to the ground from the hanging fruit. 



In from six days to a couple of weeks or more the adidt Hy hatches from 

 the pupal stage. 



I have bred a<lnlt flies from pupa' buried in soil to a depth of G, t<, 10, and 

 ■over 12 inches. In each case a large percentage of the adult flies worked 

 their way to the surface, and were apparently as lively as those bred from 

 pupre at the surface ; therefore l)urying fruit is not permissible under the 

 Regulations as being too uncertain and requiring too much labour to bury 

 •deep enough, and in sei>ar;ite holes, every three days throughout the year. 



