CURRANT AND GOOSEBERRY INSECTS 355 



References 



Riley, 1st Rept. Ins. Mo., pp. 140-142. 1869. 



Saunders, 7th Rept. Ent. Soc. Ontario, for 1876, pp. 39-40. 1877. 



The Yellow Currant Fruit-fly 

 Epochra canadensis Loew 



Throughout the Northern states and Canada the currant 

 and gooseberry crop is often seriously injured by a small white 

 maggot which feeds within the fruit. The loss occasioned by 

 this insect seems to be greater in the West, particularly in 

 mountainous regions where there is an abundance of wild 

 berries in which flies may breed undisturbed. Gillette states 

 that in Colorado this fruit-fly is the most serious insect enemy 

 of the currant and gooseberry. 



The pale yellowish flies, about as large as the house fly, with 

 green eyes and banded wings, appear in May in the Eastern 

 states, become abundant about the middle of June, and finally 

 disappear after having been on the wing about a month. The 

 female fly inserts her elongate, whitish egg under the skin of 

 the unripe fruit through a puncture made with her sharp ex- 

 tensible ovipositor. The egg is about ^j inch in length, white, 

 elongate oval and provided at one end with a short pedicel. 

 Several eggs may be deposited in a single l^erry, each in a 

 separate puncture. Each female is capable of laying about 

 200 eggs. 



On hatching, the young maggot may burrow for some distance 

 just beneath the skin before entering the pulp. It then attacks 

 the immature seeds, feeding on the kernel. Infested berries 

 may be distinguished by having a discolored spot (nther around 

 the puncture or over the place where a maggot has been feeding 

 on the seeds. They color prematurely and usually fall to the 

 ground and decay. In about three weeks the maggots become 



