342 



INJUKIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS OP CALIFORNIA. 



Fig. 34 0. — Gooseberries showing the work 

 of the currant or gooseberry fruit-fly, Epochra 

 canadensis (Loew). Slightly enlarged. Speci- 

 mens received from O. E. Brcmner, Santa 

 Rosa. (Original) 



mouth hooks. They arc about \ inch lout;'. The puparia arc regularly 



oblong, light straw-colored or dark brown and about y ! (; inch long. 

 Life History.— The winter is passed in the pupal stage in the soil 



and the adults begin to emerge 



about the middle of May. The 



eggs arc laid within the berries, 



the females using their sharp 



ovipositors to deposit them just 



beneath the skin. About two 



hundred eggs are laid, usually 



but one in each berry. Egg- 

 laying begins in May and con- 

 tinues in June. The eggs hatch 



in from one to two weeks and 



the maggots at once begin to 



work in the berries, usually 



among the seeds. By the mid- 

 dle of the summer, or by early 



fall, the maggots are full-grown 



and then leave the berries to 



enter the soil, where pupation 



fakes place within two or three 



inches beneath the surface. 



Here the winter is also passed, as previously indicated. The pupal 



stage is very long, requiring from six 

 to ten months. There is but one brood 

 a year. 



Nature of Work.— The egg punc- 

 tures made in the skin of the berries 

 by the female flies cause at first a 

 slight dimple or depression, but as 

 the maggots develop the spot sinks 

 and becomes brown or reddish and 

 very noticeable. (Fig. 340.) The 

 work of the maggots within the berries 

 causes them to drop or ripen prema- 

 turely and destroys all affected. The 

 presence of the maggots in any of the 

 fruit is such as to make the entire 

 crop unsafe for successful marketing. 

 Distribution. — The presence of this 

 fly appears to be limited to the central 

 and northern parts of the State. It 

 has been reported as especially in- 

 jurious in the region of San Francisco 

 Bay and in the upper Sacramento 

 Valley. 



Fig. 341.— Adult females of the cur- Food. — The fruit of currants and 



rant or gooseberry fruit-fly, Epochra. yoosebe I'l'ieS appears to be the Only 

 canadensis (Loew). Knlarged nearly , ,(.,,• ! J 



three times. (Original) t()OCl Ot this pest. 



