1913] , The Dipteran Fauna of Bermuda. 451 



Having written to Mr. F. M. Jones in May, 1909, to ascertain if the 

 fruit fly was still on the Islands, he replied: "In regard to the fruit fiy 

 (Ceratites) ; several years ago a regular crusade against this insect was 

 undertaken and is being continued. All of the Surinam cherry trees 

 were cut down, also most of the sweet orange trees and peach trees. 

 Inspectors were appointed in each parish and authorized to visit every 

 tree and strip off the unripe fruit, — oranges, lemons, sapadihas, loquats, 

 sugar-apples, etc. ; pawpaws were ordered to be gathered before turning 

 yellow, under the penalty of having the trees chopped down. All this 

 was in an effort to entirely exterminate the insect, it has undoubtedly 

 greatly reduced its numbers for I failed to find a specimen, though I 

 searched all kind of fruits where I could find any which had escaped 

 inspectors. I heard of the fly as still present this spring. The crusade 

 has not the support of the people and trees are concealed from the inspec- 

 tors when possible, so that probably when the vigilance is relaxed the 

 insect will appear again. There are several wild fruits which should be 

 examined as possible breeding places. Sorry I could not get yovi some 

 specimens." 



Expressing to my friend Dr. R. A. Spaeth a desire to obtain some 

 specimens of the "fruit fly" he spoke to Col. W. R. Winter who bred 

 some specimens which I received though the kindness of Professor E. 

 L. Mark. The letter accompanying the specimens contains so much of 

 interest pertaining to the habits of the fly that I have taken the liberty 

 of publishing it in part. 



"With reference to the experiments, several punctured peaches 

 placed in isolation cages, developed flies in from seven to ten days from 

 the time in which the larvse entered the soil, as I had not the actual date 

 •of the depositing of the eggs, I did not trouble to keep an exact record 

 beyond noting the dates of the lar^^ae leaving the fruit and the appear- 

 ance of the fly." 



"Two peaches in perfect condition were left on an exposed branch 

 of the tree and watched, but owing to the scarcity of flies it was not until 

 4 P. M. on the 13th of July that a fly appeared and punctured one of 

 them; after ten minutes I killed the fly. The peach was carefully exam- 

 ined and one puncture only was found. On the 17th the fruit was found 

 to be soft around the puncture and was gathered. It was placed in a 

 gauze covered glass jar on two and a half inches of clear, dry sand. On 

 the 24th at 10 A. M. the maggots were observed going into the sand, 

 many of them being visible through the sides of the glass, they having 

 gone down between the sand and the glass. On the 27th the peach was 

 removed and examined. Two dead maggots were found in it. The 

 pupas were carefully separated from the sand and twelve more were 

 found, these were placed in dry soil in an isolation cage made especially 

 for this experiment. The flies appeared as follows: two on the 1st of 

 August at 7 and 10 A. M. Three on the 2nd, before 4 P. M. Two on 

 the 3rd, before 7 P. M., and on the 4th, before 9 A. M. Carried no 

 further as all flies fed on arsenate of lead which was placed in the cage 

 and were found dead on the 5th at 7 A. M. ' Weather very hot and dry, 

 no rain, temperature averaging 82°, 



