178 Annals Entomological Society of America  [Vol. VII, 
I. INTRODUCTION. 
The most destructive pest of the Cucurbitacez in the 
Hawaiian Islands is commonly called the Melon Fly (Dacus 
cucurbitz Coq.) or the Bitter Gourd Fruit Fly in other parts 
of the world. Previous to the accidental introduction of this 
insect into Hawaii, melons were sold at ten cents each, but 
today the consumer often pays from fifty cents to one dollar 
for a watermelon. It has been estimated that the loss in the 
Hawaiian Islands amounts to almost a million dollars annually, 
in tribute to this fly, or a little over five cents a day for a family 
s 

Text Fig. 1. Melon fly, Dacus cucurbitea Cog. (After Perkins). 
of four, on an estimated population of 192,000. When one stops 
to consider that the Hawaiian Islands are smaller than the 
state of Rhode Island, that the principal agricultural products 
are sugar, pineapples, coffee and rice, one realizes what a tre- 
mendous amount of injury this fruit fly causes to the limited 
vegetable crops grown in the islands. This trypetid has been 
allowed to play havoc unmolested for a period of sixteen years 
or more, so that today in many localities swarming with the_ 
pest, barely do the seeds of some cucurbits germinate, when 
the seedlings are “‘stung’’ by the flies; the larve which hatch 
from the eggs devour the tissue of the stems and cause decay, 
then the maggots penetrate into the roots and completely 
destroy the plants. 
