APPLE-INFESTING DROSOPHILA FLIES. 219 



Drosopliila isnoticed as infesting apples, preferring the earlier varieties. 

 The larvas enter the apple usually where it has been bored by the ap- 

 ple-worm {Carpocapsa pomonelln), and sometimes through the calyx. 

 They penetrate its interior in every direction, and if several are work- 

 ing together, as is sometimes the case, they render ic quite unfit for 

 use. Apples that appeared perfectly sonnd when taken fi-om the tree 

 were often found to be "all alive" with them after having been kept 

 a few weeks. The writer of the communication referred to, had fre- 

 quently observed the pup® in the bottom of barrels in a cellar in the 

 winter, from which the ilies appeared in the spring. Dr. Packard, in 

 his Guide to the Study of Insects, p. 415, figures an unknown species 

 of Drosophila as the "apple-fly," which is believed to be the above 

 species. The larvge, of which a brief notice is given by Walsh, in vol. 

 ii of the Practical E)itomolo(ji'<t, page 20, were probably those of a 

 species of Drosophila. They are described as nearly one-fourth of an 

 inch long, of the diameter of a common pin, without legs, the color of 

 the pulp of an apple, and with a black mark on the top of the head. 

 They had injured an apple crop in the State of Vermont to the extent 

 of about one-half its value by boring the fruit in every direction. They 

 had also proved "similarly injurious to apples on Long Island. On page 

 55of the same volume, other "apple-worms" are noticed, which had been 

 received from Massachusetts, which may have been of the same species, 

 although there are discrepancies between the descriptions given of the 

 two. 



The above " apple- worms " should not be confounded with the larvae 

 of the apple-midge, Molohrtis mail, of Dr. Fitch {First and /Second 

 Reports, page 252), which also destroy the interior of the apple, while 

 the exterior is without blemish with the exception, usually, of the per- 

 foration of the Carpocapsa apple-worm, through which, it has been 

 thought, the midge larvae effect their enti-ance. This little species, now 

 known as Sciari niali, belongs to a family quite far removed from the 

 Drosophilid(B, viz., the Mycctophilidm. 



Strawberry Drosophila. 



Larvne, stated to be a species of Drosophila, have been found within 

 strawberries.* They were gathered quite late in the season, after they 

 were no longer offered in market ; and as all were infested with the 

 larvae, it is not improbable that the flies may have been attracted to 

 them throngh an incipient fermentation of the juices of the later 

 berries. 



The different species of Drosophila vary considerably in their habits, 

 as we learn from European writers ; and indeed the same species seems 



*Fi€ld and Forest, ii, 1870, p. 102. 



