ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY ENTOMOLOGY. 655 



already been noticed, due to the longer and warmer summer and fall in this 

 country. The author expresses the opinion that at the present time it is pos- 

 sible to eradicate the pest from this country. 



A list of literature relating to the subject, consisting of 13 titles, is appended. 



The Mediterranean fruit fly in Bermuda, E. A. Back ( U. S. Dept. Agi: Bui. 

 161 (I91.'f), 2)1). S). — This paper, based upon an investigation made by the author 

 in Bormuda during December, 1913, discusses the history of the fruit fly in 

 Bermuda, its life history, host fruits, and the possibility of eradicating it from 

 those islands. 



For nearly fifty years the peach industry of Bermuda has been ruined by this 

 pest, which is thought to have gained entrance in 1865 in a cargo of fruit from 

 the Mediterranean region bound for New York which storms forced to discharge 

 there. Since that time it has spread over the islands, which consist of 19i 

 scpiare miles of rolling country, and has long since ruined the excellent peach 

 industry enjoyed by Bermuda in the early days and caused such discouragement 

 among prospective fruit growers that at the present time native-grown fruit in 

 Bermuda is a luxury. To the 47 fruits listed by Winter in the bulletin previ- 

 ously noted (E. S. R., 29, p. 656) as attacked by the Mediterranean fruit fly in 

 Bermuda, the author adds the ball kamani (CalophylhDJV iiiophyUum), the 

 prickly pear (Opuntia sp.), and the acordia. 



It is stated that while at the present time Bermuda is probably a source of 

 comparatively small danger to the United States as a source of infestation by 

 this pest, both on account of trade relations and the climatic conditions sur- 

 roundiug New York, its extermination in these islands will be decidedly to the 

 advantage of both Bermuda and the United States. It is pointed out that the 

 topography of these islands is such that they can be easily inspected ; that the 

 trees and shrubs, the fruits of which are subject to infestation, are compara- 

 tively few numerically; and that a large proportion of the uncultivated land 

 supports little that is subject to attack. Experience in all countries where 

 clean cultural work has been undertaken, but especially in the city of Honolulu, 

 has shown that no lasting beneficial results will follow such work as has been 

 carried on in Bermuda unless extermination is the object in view. " The value 

 of the fruit grown in Bermuda is not sufficient to warrant work being carried 

 on with any other object. In no country where the fly now exists could work 

 of extermination be undertaken with such assurances of success as in Bermuda. 

 If clean cultural work were supported continuously by adequate legislation and 

 undertaken by a person sufficiently conversant with the problem and eager to 

 make a unique record in the entomological world, the Mediterranean fruit fly 

 could be exterminated from Bermuda within three years, without the expendi- 

 ture of a prohibitive amount of mone3'." 



Susceptibility of citrus fruits to the attack of the Mediterranean fniit fly, 

 E. A. Back and C. E. Pemberton {U. S. Dept. Agr., Jour. Agr. Research, 3 

 {1015), No. 4, pp. 311-330, pis. 3, figs. 3). — The authors here report the results 

 of investigations conducted in the Hawaiian Islands which tend to show that 

 even if Ceratitis capitata should obtain a foothold in the warmer portions of the 

 United States, it probably would not be the serious pest to fruit that previously 

 published literature would indicate. The paper includes a historical review 

 and discussion of host fruits, liabits of the fly, proportion of ei;a: punctures con- 

 taining eggs, mortality of eggs and larvte, persistent attack leading to infesta- 

 tion of the pulp, secondary attack of citrus fruits by insects other than the 

 fruit fly and by fungi, and effect of attack of the Mediterranean fruit fly upon 

 citrus crops of California and Florida. 

 90853°— No. 7—15 5 



