April, '10] OKANE : THE APPLE MAGGOT 171 



powers or wandering habits of the adult female — in other words, 

 the possible danger zone of an infested tree. Later we hope to deter- 

 mine the time that elapses after the female emerges before it is ready 

 to lay eggs, and the feeding habits during this period. This fall we 

 have started on a study of the depth to which the larvae go to pupate, 

 under various conditions, and the time that elapses after the larva 

 issues from the fruit until it begins to pupate. 



Most winter apples in New Hampshire are kept for a while in 

 storage of one kind or another, either in a fruit cellar or under 

 refrigeration. We have secured infested and non-infested apples of 

 the same variety, from the same orchard, and of as nearly identical 

 quality as possible. We have placed these in storage, to observe the 

 deterioration of the one as compared with the other, both during and 

 after storage, and the effect on the vitality and development of the 

 larv«. 



Apparentl}^, in orchards of a hard, winter variety, such trees as 

 are infested will show fruit ripening a little in advance of the rest. 

 We have set ourselves to find out whether this fruit ripens prema- 

 turely because of the presence of the larv« in it, or whether certain 

 trees with a trifle earlier bearing proclivities offer fruit more attrac- 

 tive to the egg laying female. By means of limb cages, and con- 

 trolled infestation, we hope to accomplish this. 



Data are in shape, and plans are now being made, for a thoro 

 tryout of methods of control, on a sufficiently large scale to be con- 

 •clusive. These will include cultural methods, such as deep plowing; 

 repeated, shallow cultivation; removal of fallen fruit; and the use 

 of livestock, especially hogs, sheep and chickens. 



Another plan that will have a thoro trying-out is the use of sweet- 

 ■ened arsenicals to poison the adult prior to the beginning of egg 

 laying. The success achieved by Mr. Mally in South Africa this last 

 season, in adapting this remedy to the Fruit Fly, Ceratitis capitata, 

 Wied., leads us to hope for good results here. The insects are not 

 the same at all, but their habits are similar. 



Finally, in a biological way this insect presents an interesting ques- 

 tion of possible races within a species. It is a fact that we may have 

 ■early, infested fruit close to late fruit, with the latter free from 

 Attack. Equally is it true that in other cases the late fruit is badly 

 infested. The question then arises : Whether within this species there 

 may not be definite racial limits corresponding to the widety diver- 

 gent characteristics of early summer apples and of late winter fruit ; 

 these limits defined by the inability of a race maturing normally in 

 the one to adapt itself in the next generation to the variety inhabited 



