278 [December, 



rotten iiiid ffruiciitin<^ fruit ; and Conistoi-k, who bred the species 

 in the United States from apples attacked by the Apple Ma^^j^ot, 

 Bharjoletis pomonella, Walsh (Faoi. Trypetidce), states {loc. cit., p. 7) 

 that " under ordinary circumstanees, the Poinacc-Flies feed only on 

 decayiiifj; fruit in an orchard. . . ." According to Aldrich (Cata- 

 logue of North American Dipfcra, L905, pp. 04 1- (542 *), Cockerel 1 

 gives (Bulletin 32, Arizona Experiment Station, pp. 290-294) an 

 account of the larvae " injuring oranges — not, however, until they had 

 been attacked by rot;" while Lintner (1st N.T. Report, pp. 216-221) 

 records the occurrence of the larva? in pickles and jam. Tlie species 

 was reared by Howard (Proc. Wash. Acad. Sei., ii, 1900, p 589) from 

 human excrement at Washington, US. A. So far as I am aware, the 

 insect has not before been observed to be a pest in English vineries, 

 but two cases of attack on gra[)es in the United States have been 

 published. Mr. W. L. Devereau, of Clyde, N.Y., quoted by Comstock 

 {loc cif.), writes: "Ihe larvse of this fly completely eat out the 

 inside of gra[)es which, while hanging on the vines, have first been 

 picked open by birds. 'J he decaying juices running out on the other 

 berries of the cluster spread decay, and thus give more foothold for 

 the larva;. Indeed, the larvae bore from one grape to another, while 

 the images are constantly, by eggs, jiutting in new i olonies until the 

 cluster is nearly or quite destroyed, nothing remaining but the empty 

 grape-skins." The second instance is that recorded by Forbes (Trans. 

 Illinois State Horticultural Society, 1884), who, as reported by 

 Howard {loc. cit.), refers to "the damage done by D. ampelophila to 

 the grape crop at Moliue, HI. He states that they attack most 

 frequently grapes which have been mutilated by birds or damaged by 

 rot, but once having commenced on a cluster are likely to pass from 

 one berry to another, the flies meantime constantly laying eggs." 

 Within the last few mouths the British Museum has received speci- 

 mens of this species from West Australia, and since Loew, at the end 

 of his description of IJ. ampelophila (Dipt. Amer., septentr. indigena, 

 Centuria secunda, pp. lOi-102), states that, besides being found iu 

 Cuba and Central Europe, and being very abundant in Southern 

 Europe, it also oc-curs in South Africa, it is evident that its area of 

 distribution is extremely wide. There can be little doubt that the fly 

 has been carried about the world in cargoes of unsound fruit. 



British Museum (Natural History), 



Cromwell Eoad, London, S.W. : 

 September 2.%th, 1905. 



I am indebted to this valuable Catalogue for all the references here given. 



