I904 



The Cornell Reading-Courses 



Fig. 103. — Female apple maggot fly 



part of September. The flies feed for from one to three weeks before 



egg laying begins. During this 

 time they may be observed lap- 

 ping drops of moisture from the 

 fruit. The manner in which they 

 take their food is interesting and 

 also important from the stand- 

 point of control. The mouth- 

 parts of these fruit flies are fitted 

 for lapping or licking rather than 

 for sucking or biting. The pro- 

 boscis (Fig. 104) is a tonguelike 

 organ roughened and somewhat 

 enlarged on the end, by means of which fluid or semifluid substances 

 may be lapped up. 



As has been stated, from one to three weeks 

 of feeding must take place before the eggs are 

 fully matured within the body of the female. 

 At the end of this period egg laying begins. 

 The female bears on the end of the abdomen a 

 sharp ovipositor with which she inserts her 

 minute, elongate, whitish eggs into the pulp of 

 the fruit just beneath the skin (Fig. 105). Each 

 female is probably capable of laying between 

 three hundred and four hundred eggs. The eggs 

 hatch in from two to six days. Immediately on 

 hatching, the little maggots begin to tunnel just 

 beneath the skin or into the fruit, but they grow slowly until the fruit 



begins to ripen or to decay (Fig. 106). Badly in- 

 fested fruit often shows large brown areas on the 

 skin, where decay has set in due to the presence of 

 the maggots. Sometimes the maggots tunnel just 

 beneath the skin, and in the light-colored varieties 

 these burrows show through as winding darker 

 areas. From this habit the insect has received, 

 in many localities, the name of railroad worm. 

 In many cases the apples are apparently sound at 

 picking time, but later when they begin to soften 

 in storage or in shipment, the maggots develop and 

 render them unfit for use. 



The length of time that the maggots spend in 

 the apples varies considerably with the condition of the fruit and of the 



Fig. 104. — Head of apple 



maggot fly showing lap- 

 ping type of mouth parts 



Fig. 105. — Egg of apple 

 maggot inserted in the 

 flesh of an apple just 

 beneath the skin. 

 Greatly enlarged 



