THE INSECT WORLD. 



;67 



fruit. Windfalls should be picked up constantly and destroyed 

 at once. Summer varieties, especially sweet types, are most in- 

 fested, and these should be sent to market at once if the apples 

 are marketable, or if they are not, they should be disposed of in 

 some effective manner to prevent the maturing of the flies. They 

 seem to be more common in the Northeastern States, extending 

 southward only to Central New Jersey. South of this point they 

 seem to be unknown, or so rare as not to be injurious. 



Probably every one has noticed in the fall, at cider making, or 

 when grapes are pressed for wine, or, in fact, whenever tlicre is 

 an accumulation of fruit of any kind in which fermentation or 

 decay has started in ever so slight a degree, that swarms of little, 

 yellowish flies make their appearance, easily distinguished by 

 the bright coral-red color of the eyes. No specimens may have 

 been noticed previously ; but just as soon as the material at- 

 tracting them makes its appearance, swarms are seen coming 

 from no one knows where. They lay their eggs in the ferment- 



-FiG. 422. 



A pomace fly and its larva, Drosophila species; 

 enlarged. 



ing or decaying mass, 

 and a few hours after- 

 wards there will be an 

 abundance of small, 

 white, wriggling mag- 

 gots. These become 

 mature in three or four 

 days, and after another 

 day or two in the pupa 

 state, they develop into 

 adult "pomace flies," 

 species of Drosophila. The insects are sometimes annoying 

 and a little troublesome, but scarcely injurious, and it is only 

 because they are so common and occur so suddenly in large 

 numbers that they are mentioned here. Little attention is paid 

 to the larvae either in wine or cider making, because they are 

 thrown out in the process of fermentation, and do not in any way 

 affect the quality of the resulting product. 



To this same family belong the " skippers" which are found in 

 cheese and sometimes in other kinds of provisions. The term 

 is derived from the habits of the larvae, which move about by a 

 series of little jumps somewhat resembling those of the larvae 



