766 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W, \Sepl. 'l,V:)^'^. 



Adelaide a few days lalef. I was re(|Mested in my iiistructif)ns tVom the 

 Queensland ( lox (■rinnent to visit West Australia, and the Him. T. Price 

 (Premier <>t" South Australia), who is on this hoat, agrees that I sliould ste|> 

 off before coming on. As soon as I leaxc Fremantle, I shall lose no time in 

 coming on to Sydney, but shall call on the 1 )e])artments of Agriculture of 

 tSoutli Australia and Victoria on my way lionw, and come overland. 



I readied I'loinhay on the I'lHli May, 19US, andat once called ujion tin- 

 Colonial Secretary, who fjave me letters to t he .Acting I )ii'ectoi- of Agriculture 

 at Poonali, to whicli place 1 went the following day, and. aftei- getting some 

 information fiom him, di-ove down to where the new Agi-icultural College is 

 being ei'ected. and met J)r. H. H. Mann, wh'i, after being scientific aflviser 

 to the tea-planters of Assam, has been appointed tlie I'rincipal. I i-eturnerl 

 the following night to Bombay, and an houi- later took the nit;ht mail to 

 Calcutta, to Waine Station, the nearest point to the imperial Research 

 Laboratories at Pusa, Bengal. ( )n the load I received a telegram from Mr. 

 Howlett (second Imperial Entomologist), saying he would meet me at 

 Allahal)ad, where he was investigating fruit-Hies. i met him at the junction 

 at midnight, and we spent the next three flays around Allahabad, Cawnpore, 

 and Lucknow, in orchards and melon fields, 'i'hen we j)arted company, while 

 I went north to ])ehra Dun and Missorie to see Mr. Stebbing, the Entom- 

 ologist of the Indian Forestry Departmeid : but though 1 met other otiicers 

 of the department, Mr. Stebbing was away on tour. I then returned, 

 travelled all Sunday night, and met Mr. Howlett at Mogul Seria on Monday 

 evening, and reached Pusa at 6 o'clock on the Tuesday morning. 



Here I spent five days working in the laboratories with Messis. Lefroy 

 and Howlett, and collecting and hi-eeding fruit-Hies in the jieadi oi-charfl. 

 among the mango trees, and in the melon fields. On the Ifitli dune, 1 !)0)^, 

 accompanied by Mr. Howlett, who has been sj)ecially sent out to Pusa to 

 study the habits of biting Hies and iliptern generally, T left for Calcutta, 

 which we reached on the following day, and spent the afternoon going 

 through the collections with the curator, Dr. Ainiandale. Leaving late the 

 same evening for Bangalore via Madras, ^\ Inch we i-eached early on the 

 morning of the 20th. the Director of Agi-iculture at ^ladras sent the Ent<im- 

 ological Assistant on his stall' with us, and Mr. Aver pioxcd a verv useful 

 guide and interpi-eter to us while in the State of Mysore. \\ here we collectefl 

 a ijreat number of fruit-Hies in all kinds of fruits. Though the season was 

 practically over we obtained maggots on nearly all the fruit. 



Though in the course of their investigations on Nortliein India, after 

 breeding out some thousands of fruit-flies, only tlnec specimens of a parasite 

 ha\(' been lired in JSaiigalore, Mr. Ayer finds at least three small braconid 

 wasp parasites in the fruit-fly i>upa' that infest the guavas that ripen in 

 October and No\t'ml)er, but at the s:une time he estimates them as reaching 

 only 12 per cent, of the flies, and has ne\fr obtaineil any parasites from 

 pupfe taken from mangoes, oranges, or peaches. 



All the nurserymen agreed that all their guavas have been destroyed for 

 the last six years with fly maggot. I therefoi'e hold out \eiy little hope of 



