316 



THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



The control measures consist in destroying the nests in the winter time and spray- 

 ing the foliage in the early fall with arsenate of lead. The Bureau of Entomology 

 has introduced a number of parasites of this insect from Europe, some of which are 

 doing effective work at the present time. 



THE MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT FLY. 



By G. H. Hecke. 



Of all the insect pests against which the Commission of Horticulture and the 

 United States Department of Agriculture are guarding our fruit industry, the 

 Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) is most to be feared. This insect is one 

 of the two-winged flies or Diptera and is a close relative of the orange maggot of 

 Mexico, the melon fly of the Hawaiian Islands and other tropical countries, and the 

 apple maggot or railroad worm of our Eastern States. 



Pig. 115. — Adult female of the Mediterranean fruit fly. 

 Birdnekoff.) 



(After 



Although called the Mediterranean fruit fly, it did not originate in the Mediter- 

 ranean region, but is supposed to be a native of Africa, where the family to which 

 it belongs, the Trypetida, is represented by a large number of species. The present 

 distribution of ths pest is Mediterranean region generally, Paris, Azores, Cape de 

 Verde, Madeira, St. Helena, Bermuda, Hawaii, Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, West Australia, Brazil, Cape Colony, Uganda, Egypt and Palestine. 



The discovery of this terrible pest in the Hawaiian Islands in 1910 brought home 

 to Californians, as nothing else could, the danger that threatens our fruit industry. 

 This danger was fully realized by my predecessors, J. W. Jeffrey and Dr. A. J. Cook, 

 and they made energetic efforts to guard against its introduction into this state by 

 rigid quarantine regulations. 



