70 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 6 



should be thrown overboard before entering California water, i. e., 

 before or arriving at the three-mile limit. Even this is a dangerous 

 method to pursue for Gurney of New South Wales immersed the Med- 

 iterranean fruit fly maggots in sea water for a period of forty-five hours 

 and a large percentage of these maggots developed into adult flies. 

 Notwithstanding the promises of ship owners that the remnants of all 

 fruits and vegetables purchased at Honolulu for ships' stores should 

 be thrown overboard before their vessels enter California waters, the 

 quarantine officers, during the month of May, 1912, found living larvae 

 of the Mediterranean fruit fly and melon fly in eleven diff"erent in- 

 stances in this class of stores on board ships arriving from Honolulu. 

 The quarantine officers then threatened to hold at anchor, away 

 from the docks, all ships arriving from infested ports until they were 

 declared free from insect pests. The reaction of this stimulus brought 

 about the desired effect for no more infested fruits or vegetables were 

 found in the ships' stores on the Honolulian steamers since. 



Export Fruits from the Hawaiian Islands: Let us take up 

 next the danger of sending export fruits from the Hawaiian Islands 

 into the United States. On June 24, 1911, California placed a quar- 

 antine against all Hawaiian fruits excepting pineapples and bananas. 

 On October 1, 1912, the Plant Quarantine Act went into effect, the 

 Secretary of Agriculture having followed the footstep's of California in 

 quarantining all the Hawaiian fruits, except pineapples and bananas. 



In the last number of the Journal of Economic Entomology No. 

 6, pages 443-451, we published a paper entitled, "Will the Mediter- 

 ranean Fruit Fly {Ceratitis capitata Wied.) Breed in Bananas under 

 Artificial and Field Conditions?" There is no question or doubt but 

 that the Mediterranean fruit fly will occasionally breed in ripe and 

 overripe bananas under Hawaiian conditions. The fruit fly was also 

 bred from a half ripe banana under field conditions. 



A number of entomologists have bred the Mediterranean fruit fly 

 from pineapples and bananas under natural conditions. Kirk of New 

 Zealand has actually bred the Mediterranean fruit fly from pineapples 

 and bananas intercepted at the wharf. French of Victoria has also 

 reared the pest from pineapples and bananas, and on many occasions 

 he has proven "eggs to have been deposited in green bananas." 



What precautions were taken at Honolulu to prevent the Medi- 

 terranean fruit fly from entering the United States through export 

 pineapples and bananas? On March 1, 1912, the marketing division 

 of ^Honolulu took entire control of shipping export fruits. An in- 

 spector was employed who visited the various banana plantations and 

 inspected the bananas. He was not to pas's bunches containing scale 

 infested bananas nor ripe, partly ripe or injured bananas. The 



