7 



duced into St. Helena from the Cape in a shipment of grapes. 

 Legislation was proposed with a view of exterminating the fly, but 

 if carried out, does not appear to have had beneficial results. 



Frequent references to the destruction caused by Ceratitis 

 capitata are to be met with in the agricultural journals of the 

 Cape of Good Hope, Western Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, 

 and other countries, where it is referred to under the names of 

 Mediterranean, Peach or Orange Fly. 



Another pest of similar habits, Tephritis Tyroni % occurs in 

 Queensland, where it attacks the orange trees, but as it appears 

 to be confined to tropical countries it has not the wide range, and 

 does not cause damage to the same extent as the Ceratitis. 



The occurrence of the " Mediterranean fly " (Ceratitis) in so 

 many widely separated localities appears to be due to its intro- 

 duction in infected fruit whence it has spread far and wide ; it is 

 thought that its introduction into the Cape was by means of fruit 

 from Madeira, and it appears to have reached Tasmania from 

 Sydney. Considerable doubt exists as to the native home of the 

 insect ; it has been found in Brazil by Mr, George Compere, where 

 it is kept in check by a predatory beetle, and this points to the 

 possibility that Brazil may be the original home of the species. 



This discovery by Mr. Compere leads up to the question as to 

 how the parasite can be kept down or destroyed. The problem 

 has been attacked in several ways. On the one hand repeated 

 attempts have been made to find some substance which will serve 

 both as an attraction and as a poison to the flies, and this has been 

 coupled with the destruction by burning, boiling, or deep burying 

 of all infected fruit to kill the pest in the larval or maggot stage. 

 Then, particularly in the Cape districts, netting of the trees has 

 been resorted to, which, though troublesome and costly, appears to 

 have been highly successful for " bush " trees. This method, 

 could it be adopted for all trees, would of course bring about the 

 extermination of the pest, the fruit being an essential factor in 

 the life history of the fly, inasmuch as the propagation of the 

 species is dependent on fresh broods of flies from eggs laid in the 

 fruits. In this connection it may be noted that the orange offers 

 considerable difficulties in the way of the extermination of the fly 

 owing to the long period of time which elapses between the 

 ripening of the earliest and latest fruits of the crop. Furthermore, 

 the constant succession of different fruits such as apple, apricot, 

 fig, kei apple, lemon, orange, passion flower, peach, pear, plum, &c, 

 affords a continuous series of hosts in which the flies can lay their 

 eggs. 



An interesting experiment to bring about the destruction of the 

 fly by natural agencies is due to Mr. Compere, who discovered and 

 collected the parasite of the fruit fly in Brazil. The beetle 

 Hexamerocera brasiliensi*, one of the StapJri/finMeae, is predaceous 

 on the larva? of the fruit fly, and it is hoped that its introduction 

 into Western Australia will lead to the extermination of the fly. 

 Investigations as to this parasite have also been carried out by the 

 Cape Government Entomologist, but though all these matters ar<> 

 as yet only in the experimental stage it does not appear likely that 

 any great measure of success will result from the introduction of 



