334 

 RECONNAISAXCE OF FRUIT FLY PARASITES. 



November 12, V)14. 



Board of Coiiimissioners of .V^riciilture ami I'^orestrv, Ilono- 

 Inlu. T. II. 



Gentlemen: — Durinj^' October, while in the Kona district on 

 the Island of Hawaii, and while making" casnal investig"ation.s of 

 a coffee field and its condition as to the presence of fruit fly, I 

 noticed the presence in this field of a large number of Braconid 

 parasites. Capturing" some specinicns my suspicion as to their 

 identity was immediately confirmed. There were examples 

 among them of Opiiis Iiituiilis and Diacliasma trvoiii, two of the 

 Braconids which Prof. Silvestri introduced into Hawaii from 

 South Africa and Australia respectively in May of 1913 ( cf p. 5, 

 Silvestri's report). 



You will note in the report an account of the difiiculty he had 

 in breeding female specimens of these particular parasites under 

 insectary conditions and that, rather than take undue chances on 

 their multiplication by artificial means, it was decided to liberate 

 the few remaining females of both species under natural condi- 

 tions in the coffee fields of the Kona district. For this j^urpose 

 Mr. D. T. Fullaway, who was at that time assisting Prof. Sil- 

 vestri in the breeding work, was sent to Kona and there liberated 

 four females and many males of the Australian species under two 

 tents at Honaunau, South Kona, and three females and many 

 males of the South African Opius under two tents at llolualoa. 

 .\orth Kona. These liberations took ])lace on June 12, 1913. A 

 fiu'ther small consignment of the Australian species was sent to 

 i\una for liberaliun about a month later. In ( )ctober, 1913, or 

 about four months after the liberation made b_\- iMillawax", I sent to 

 I lonaunau and llolualoa for infested coffee ])erries from the one- 

 fourth acre which I had made jjrevious arrangements to have re- 

 served in the neighborhood of each of the tents with a view to ;is- 

 sisling llu' nnilti]ilication and distribution of these special p.ai"asites. 

 b'rtjni these samples we were successful in recovering the South 

 African parasite {Opius liiniiilis), biU not the one from Australia 

 ( Diacliasma tryoin). '["his fortunate recovery ena])]ed us at that 

 time to make a further ditsribution of the Otitis not only in Kona, 

 but also on most all the islands, including ( )ahu. .'^ince then it ha 

 been repeatedlv reeo\cred in \arious districts froni the Irnit ll\- 

 l)Ui);ie bre<| out of several \aricties of infested fruit--. In \ngu>t. 

 1914, from a sample of infested bei'ries sent from Kaawaloa and 

 Kilf)a, Koi"ia, a few s])eciniens of the .\u-1ialian species ( Dia- 

 chasina /ryoiii) were also recovered, but the same difficulty — as 

 to the breeding of females luider insectary conditions — was met 

 with. 



Mv recent observations in the coffee districts of N'oilli and 



