462 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



English sparrow and the Baltimore oriole have been observed attack- 

 ing the larvae, bat neither seem to prefer them to other caterpillars. No 

 parasitic insects are noted. Eemoval of the egg masses, treatment 

 with kerosense emulsion, Paris green, and arsenate of lead are recom- 

 mended. 



Relative to laws, the example of France enacting them as early as 

 1734 against this particular insect is mentioned. The text of the act 

 of the Massachusetts Legislature directed against the insect at its last 

 session is given in full. 



The fruit maggot fly, W. W. Froggatt ( Agr. Gaz. Netc South Wales, 

 8 (1897), No. 6, pp. 410-414, Jigs. 8). — Under the name Tephritis tyroni 

 the author describes what is believed to be a new species. It is a 

 different insect from the fruit liy, Ralterophora capitata, reported from 

 Western Australia, the Azores, Bermudas, 1 and Malta, 2 and described 

 originally by Wiedman in 1886 as Tephritis capitata. It is larger and 

 of a lighter color as well as different in markings. The pest promises 

 to become one of the most serious with which fruit growers in New 

 South Wales have to deal. 



The eggs of the insect are deposited beneath the skin of the fruit 

 about the time it is beginning to color. The larva gnaws irregular 

 passages toward the centre and, in the case of apples, quinces, and 

 other core fruits, soon reduces the portion surrounding the core to a 

 rotten mass. In oranges the first evidence of disease appears in dark 

 spots where the fly's ovipositor has pierced the skin. The quarter- 

 grown maggots are semitranspareut, anteriorly slender, thickening 

 posteriorly, sharply rounded terminally, have two curious black oral 

 hooks, and a pair of cephalic spiracles which are tinged with yellow. 

 They live in the fruit until it is perfectly putrid. The full grown dull 

 yellow larva? (about h in. in length) emerge and pupate just below the 

 surface of the ground. The female fly is somewhat larger than the 

 male and is provided with a needle-like ovipositor. The head is broad, 

 the eyes large and brown, the antenna? yellow with the third joint long. 

 The thorax is stout and of a dull yellowish brown with a bright yellow 

 lateral patch and a dorsal one over the scutellum. The abdomen is 

 dark reddish brown with a distinct dorsal transverse yellow point in 

 its anterior half. 



The insect has been well known in Queensland since 1878, when 

 specimens attacking oranges were sent to the Royal Gardens at Kew. 

 In 1888 it was found attacking all kinds of fruit in the Toowomba by 

 H. Tryon. As yet the southern part of this colony and Victoria is free 

 from the pest, but it is thought unless stringent Governmental meas- 

 ures are taken it will spread everywhere. 



In a note by Dr. Cobb on the fly or so-called " Queensland fruit 

 fly " accompanying this paper, it is pointed out that spraying is use- 



1 Insect Life, 3 (1890), pp. 5-8. It is here described under the name of Ceratitis cap- 

 itata Wiedm. 



(lard. Chron. (1890), p. 655. 



