Dec, '12] SEVERIN AND HARTUXG: MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT FLY 451 



Summary 



We are hardly justified in drawing conclusions as to whether or not 

 the fruit fly will breed in green Chinese bananas under natural condi- 

 tions from the results of the investigation carried on under artificial 

 conditions. 



From 452 eggs which were placed in different parts of green Chinese 

 bananas, only two fruit flies succeeded in completing their entire life 

 history. One hundred of these eggs were planted within the peel of 

 green Chinese bananas and 4 days later 69 eggs had hatched; but all 

 of these maggots died, probably from the effect of the tannic acid. 

 From Chinese bananas which were not quite so green as those used in 

 previous experiments, 42 per cent of the eggs that had been inserted 

 within these gave rise to adult flies. The majority of the maggots 

 that were inserted when they were about half grown within the pulp 

 of green Chinese bananas died in the acid medium. Nearly full grown 

 maggots, when placed within green Chinese bananas, usually completed 

 their larval development but often pupated within the fruit. 



Mediterranean fruit flies were bred both under artiflcial and field 

 conditions from ripe and over- ripe bananas with the peel intact and 

 from ripe bananas with the pulp exposed. Under laboratory condi- 

 tions, the peel of a green Chinese banana was removed around a longi- 

 tudinal split extending A\athin the pulp: decay set in along this crack 

 and from this banana fruit flies were also bred. Under field conditions, 

 green Chinese bananas were hung among the branches of lemon trees; 

 and from these bananas, when they became ripe and overripe, adults 

 were reared. Fruit flies also emerged under field conditions from 2 

 bananas which were removed from the bunches of banana trees that 

 had been cut dowa during the mosquito campaign in Honolulu. One 

 of these bananas was decayed at the flower scar and a bruise extended 

 through the peel beneath this region; this banana was yellow in color 

 below the decayed area and gradually shaded over to green towards 

 the attached end. 



We wish to express our sincere thanks to Mr. Frederick Knab of 

 the Bureau of Entomology, Washington, D. C, for the identiflcation 

 of Notogramma stigma Fabr. and to Mr. J. R. Malloch of the same 

 Bureau for the identification of Acritochceta pulvinata Grims. 



