44 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN, 



sistant stock and feels sure that we can secure pears of rarest excellence 

 — efiual in quality to the Bartlett — that are also resistant to this destruc- 

 tive blight. We expect Professor Reiiiier to address us at the Forty- 



w 



k. 



I z**' 



Fig. 12. — Suckers grafted into pear blight treated tree to replace the 

 function of excised roots. (Plioto by Ray R. Roberts.) 



sixth State Fruit Growers' Convention to he held next summer at 

 Stanford University, when an entire day will be given to the discussion 

 of pear blight. — A. J. C. 



The Melon Fly. — Our readers will welcome the information that in 

 the September issue of the ''Annals of the Entomological Society of 

 America" there is an elaborate article describing tlie work, distribu- 

 tion and life history of the melon fly, Dacns cucnrhit(('. Our quaran- 

 tine service must be credited with the keeping of this pest from our 

 State. The authors of this article, Messrs. H. P. and H. C. Severin 

 and W. J. Hartung, give an estimated annual loss caused by this fly 

 of nearly $1,000,000 a year in Hawaii, a district not as large as the 

 state of Rhode Island. This is one of the Trypetids and so is related 

 to the dreaded Mediterranean fruit fly and the Mexican orange fly. 

 It destroys cucumbers, eggplants, kohl-rabi, muskmelons, pum[)kins. 

 squash, string beans, tomatoes, watermelons and the following fruits : 

 oranges, mangoes and papayas. It is stated that from a pumpkin 

 four inches long over six hundred adults were reared. ]\Iore than 

 seventy eggs were taken from a single fly. The entire life cycle of 

 this fly is passed in from thirty to forty days in Hawaii, and there are 

 from eight to twelve generations a year. It is estimated that from a 

 single female one trillion descendants might l)e produced in a single 

 year. There are parasites which prey upon this fly, but they do little 

 toward its control. Artificial control methods have been used with 

 varying success. Here is another reason for gratitude that we have so 

 efificient a quarantine service. — A. J. C. 



