ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY — ENTOMOLOGY. 655 



fourteenth days after emergence. It is shown that the temperature has a very 

 decided influence on the length of the period. Other factors influencing this 

 period are humidity, the liind and quality of the food of the adults, and the kind 

 and quality of the larval food, with its resulting effect on the size and physio- 

 logical condition of the adults. In the experiments with isolated pairs of flies 

 very few results were obtained, which suggests that the association of a small 

 number of females in the process of egg laying is the normal habit and that 

 isolation has an inhibiting effect. 



" Copulations were observed as early as the first day after emergence and 

 as late as the forty-seventh day. No copulations have been noted when the 

 air temperature has been below 55° F. The maximum record for longevity 

 was 70 days, and the minimum was one day or less. The average of the rec- 

 ords of some 3,000 flies was slightly over 19 days." 



Banana as a host fruit of the Mediterranean fruit fly, E. A. Back and 

 C. E. Pemberton (f7. S. Dept. Agr., Jour. Agr. Research, 5 (1916), No. 17, pp. 

 793-803, i)ls. 4). — "Since the Mediterranean fruit fly {Ceratitis capitata) has 

 not been found infesting the Chinese banana (Musa cavendishii) or the Blue- 

 field banana (Mnsa sp.) during the thi-ee years that the Federal Government 

 has had charge of the inspection of export bananas in the Hawaiian Islands, 

 it is evident that some reason exists for this practical immunity. This is the 

 more apparent since adult flies of both sexes have been found present in all 

 parts of banana plantations, and surrounding fruits known to be hosts have 

 been heavily infested. 



" This immunity is shown to be due to the fact that neither the egg nor the 

 newly hatched larva of the fruit fly can survive in the tannin-laden peel of 

 green though mature fruit. In fact, the copious and sudden flow of sap from 

 egg punctures made by fruit flies in unripe bananas renders the successful 

 deposition of eggs in such fruits difficult and rare. 



" The fact that not 1 of 1,044 fruits of the Chinese banana ripening singly 

 and prematurely among bunches growing in the field, and upon which, as in the 

 case of other host fruits, one might expect gravid females to concentrate their 

 attention for the purpose of oviposition, has been found to be infested leads to 

 the conclusion that even ripe bananas are not desired as host fruits by adult 

 flies under Hawaiian conditions. On the other hand, the rearing of flies from 

 the ripe and yellow fruits of the thin-skinned Popoulu variety, as well as from 

 ripe fruits of other varieties under forced and unnatural conditions, leads to 

 the etiually acknowledged fact that ripe bananas in the field may serve as hosts 

 and should therefore be properly guarded against in all quarantine work. 



" From the facts stated the writers believe that bunches of any variety of 

 banana now growing in the Hawaiian Islands, when properly inspected for the 

 removal of prematurely ripe, cracked, or partially decayed fruits, offer no 

 danger as carriers of the Mediterranean fruit fly, provided they are wrapped and 

 shipped in accordance with the demands of the trade and the federal regula- 

 tions." 



New neotropical muscoid flies, C. H. T. Townsend (Proa. U. S. Nat. Museum, 

 49 (1915), pp. JfOo-.'i-'fO). — The present paper is in continuation of the publi- 

 cation of the results of identifying Peruvian collections previously noted 

 (E. S. R., 34, p. 65), with the inclusion of a few other neotropical forms. 

 Thirty-nine genera and type species are described as new. 



Leptinotarsa decemlineata, W. O. Ellis (Jonr. Econ. Ent., 8 (1915), No. 6, 

 pp. 520, 521). — The author records the oviposition of 1,686 eggs by a female 

 between July 8 and September 1. 



The poisonous effects of the rose chafer upon chickens, G. H. Lamson, Jk. 

 (Jour. Econ. Ent., 8 (1915), No. 6, pp. 547, 548). — Serious losses which have 

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