3o6 Journal of Agriculture. [8 ]\Iay, 1907. 



stacked up behind a, shed on the Manning River, and at Wallerawang on 

 the Western line. I saw hundreds of cases at a Chinaman's hut branded 

 with the names of a score of different orchardists' names from all parts of 

 the countv of Cumberland. Now when specimens of fruits arrive at the 

 office from any distance, I in^■ariablv find that the maggots have crawled 

 out of the fruit and have pupated among the paper in which it has been 

 wrapped. The little hard chrysalis adheres to the paper, and this would 

 naturally follow if infested fruit were allowed remain for any length of 

 time in the case ; the pupae would stick to the sides of the case, until it was 

 returned or left in new quarters, and when hatched would infect the 

 district. 



■' The onlv specimens of these species tliat have been bred in our office 

 are those in over-ripe or decaving bananas, and other northern fruits that 

 have teen condem.ned on our wharfs, and would, before our regulations 

 came into force, have been sent all over the back country. I am therefore 

 of the opinion, that the reason whv this fruit-fly has not been found close 

 into Sydney is that the spread of diseased bananas has been controlled 

 by our fruit inspectors. The maggots are always found in over-ripe or 

 decaying fruit or in cracked bananas, and these are the ones that should be 

 discarded as soon as the bunches are looked over. When the inspection of 

 fruit first came into force, it was stated that the fruit-fly bred in the 

 decayed stalks of the bananas ; but when these maggots were placed under 

 observation, thev proved to te very distinct and harmless larvae producing 

 slender and long-legged flies belonging to another family.* The chief dis- 

 tinction between this and other fruit-flv maggots is that the fruit flv has 

 two rows, on either side of the last segment, of little spiral reddish-brown 

 processes (anal respiratory tutes). They all have the same cvlindrical 

 body thickening towards the tip, and the same curious black toothed man- 

 dibles. The iDerfect fly has clear transparent wings, with stout reddish 

 nervures, and the general colour is reddish-brown with yellow markings. 

 The bodv with its wasp-like waist and pointed lx)dv gi\-es it a somewhat 

 wasp-like appearance."' 



Mr. H. Trvon, Government Entomologist of Queensland, has had excep- 

 tional opportunities of observing the habits of this fruit fly, and, as we 

 require all possible information of a reliable character concerning this pest, 

 I quote Mr. TrAons remarks on his personal observation in the natural 

 home of this j.articular species of fly, as also of the same insect when in 

 confinement. 



^Ir. Trvon says, '' The eggs of this species are just large enough to be 

 seen upon a dark back ground by the naked eye. the full grown maggot 

 teing about four-tenths of an inch in length. A feature of this maggot 

 not generally knuwn is that it is an air-breather, and that, if air be ex- 

 ckided from the fruit, its inhabitants must die. The chrysalis is one- 

 iifth of an inch in length, and exists in a partly comatose condition till it 

 develops into the fly. The male is easily distinguished from the female, as 

 the posterior of its l)od\ is rounded, while that of the female carries the 

 (ovipositor, the pointed projectile being used to pierce the skin of the fruit 

 and deposit the eggs in the tissue. The ovipositor can place an egg one- 

 twentieth of an inch below the surface. When disturbed it does not fly 

 far ; but tries to hide teneath the leaves, and for this reason often goes 

 unobserved. "" Mr. Tryon concludes that the average life of the insect is 

 about fi\e weeks, and that each fly lays about a dozen eggs. 



We have found the larvic of the true fruit fly in the rough enrl of a banana stem.— C.F. 



