PRUTT FLIES. 



171 



Fig. 193. 

 The Peach Fly. {Magnified.) 



ilanchi, and the Mango Fly ^ of Beliar, the United Provinces and other parts 

 of India being- the more important species. There are in addition species 

 which attack the brinjal, the turia, the various melons and gourds, the fruit 



of the akh {Calotropis spp.) and other wild 

 plants. These insects cannot be said to 

 be known as serious pests; they may be 

 so, as the cultivators do not report such 

 attacks and it is only rarely that they 

 can be investigated. The Mango Fly is 

 perhaps best known, as it attacks a fruit 

 of general consumption and is noticed 

 by many persons. 



The life history of fruit flies is gen- 

 erally as follows : the female lays eggs 

 in the tissue of the fruit, piercing the 

 rind by means of the ovipositor, the 

 stinff-like continuation of the abdomen. A number of small white eggs 

 are laid, which hatch in a few days to tiny white maggots. The 

 maggots live on the pulp, making tunnels through it and perforating it 

 in all directions. This period lasts about ten days, and the maggot 

 then leaves the fruit and enters the earth, where it becomes a pupa. 

 From this the fly emerges after the lapse of about a week. The 

 details of this life history 

 vary for different fruit 

 flies, but such are the 

 salient facts. 



The Melon Fly is in- 

 jurious in Baluchistan 

 and the Punjab; its life 

 history has been recently 

 worked out.^ The female 

 lays one or several 

 eggs (4-7) singly or in 

 batches on the rind of 

 the fruit in the early 

 hours of the morning, a 



very young fruit being generally chosen for oviposition. The eggs are 

 white, oval and elongate, hatching in 4< to 5 days. The small white 

 larvse at once bore into the fruit ; as they proceed into the pulp, the 



^ 129. Bacus ferriigineus 01. (Trypetidee.) 



2 Report of Lala Vishvva Nath Sahai, Entomological Assistaut, Punjab. 



Fig. 194. 



The Baluchistan Melon Fly. Larva on the right, 



pupa in the middle. (Magnified.) 



