32 Bulletin 172. 



The facts recorded by Cordley, as quoted above, strongly indicate 

 that the cherry maggot is a different and distinct insect, and we sub- 

 mit the following evidence in support of this theory. On August 

 4th we visited an infested orchard at Geneva, N. Y., and found 

 quite a number of English Morello cherries still on the trees, and 

 one or two trees bore many fruits of what the owner called a " sport " 

 or reversion from the English Morello. Many of the fruits con- 

 tained the maggots, and we soon saw many of the little flies shown 

 in figure 12, on the trees, almost always on the fruits. Several of 

 the flies were captured and found to be a species described in 1862 

 as Rliagoletis cingulata, from the Middle States. This fly is thus 

 a very near relative of the apple maggot {Rhagoletis pomonella\ 

 and a still more significant point is the fact that Loew, in his original 

 description of the fly we found on the cherries, says it is closely 

 allied to the fly of the European cherry maggot. . As Doane (1898) 

 has recorded, six species (one, zej)hyria, may prove to be a synonym) 

 of flies of the genus Rhagoletis have been described from the United 

 States. The habits are known of only two of these flies {R. 'poino- 

 7iella, the apple maggot, and R. rihicola, the dark currant fly), and 

 the maggots of these live in fruits. 



As we saw no similar flies on the cherry trees, as we found Rhago- 

 letis cingulata on the fruits^ in considerable numbers, and in view 

 of the facts just submitted regarding the relationships and probable 

 fruit-feeding habits of this fly, it is easy to understand why we have 

 been lead to think that the fly in figure 12 is the adult of our American 

 cherry maggot, and that, therefore, this maggot is a distinct species 

 from the apple maggot. When the adult insects emerge in our 

 breeding cages next spring, our theory, outlined above, may be 

 demolished, as we may get apple maggot flies or something else 

 entirely unexpected, but this will not materially affect the purpose 

 of this bulletin to record all we have been able to glean regarding 

 an insect, whether old or new, which may certainly be classed as a 

 new cherry pest. 



For this new cherry pest we would propose the popular name of 

 the Cherry Fruit-fiy. We prefer this name to the Cherry Maggoty 

 as it is more expressive of theinsect's habits, and similar fruit-inhab- 

 iting maggots in other countries are known as Fruit-flies. 



