42 REPORT ON THE FIG MOTH IN SMYRNA. 
OCCURRENCE OF LARVZ IN THE ORCHARD. 
Tf the larve, or “ worms,” come from the orchard, as held by the 
packers in Smyrna, and are in the figs when gathered, the same 
dégree of infestation should be found on the ripening fruit on the 
tree as in the dried fruit in the market, which is seldom less than 
15 per cent and often more than 50 per cent. But this is not the 
case. On rare occasions only were larve found in the ripe fruit on 
the tree. 
In an orchard at Kara Bounar, August 18, many figs were picked 
from the trees and broken open, and a few found to contain young 
larve. Figs were ripening in numbers and shriveling on the trees, 
and some had dropped and been gathered and spread on “serghi”¢ 
at one side of the orchard to dry. A small percentage of these was 
also found infested. The larve were quite young, most of them less 
than two weeks old. Their presence was usually indicated by a silk 
webbing at the eye of the fig. In no case was the skin of the fig 
injured by the larva, nor was there other evidence of its presence 
within the fig. 
In an orchard at Nazli many figs were broken open from the trees, 
but very few were found wormy, Those placed in jars, however, 
later turned out to be often quite wormy, as though eggs or very 
young larve had been present in them when they were picked. 
Larve found were of the usual pink color, and occurred, as a rule, 
one, and very seldom more than two, in a fig. 
A smaller larva, the young of a nitidulid beetle, Carpophilus 
hemipterus \.., sometimes occurred in small colonies of from 3 to 7 
individuals at the open or eye end of figs on the trees or drying on 
the “serghi.” These occurred usually in split or injured figs, and 
their presence never accompanied that of Ephestia larve in a fig. 
Repeated attempts to find larve in figs on the trees in the large 
orchards at Tchifte Kaive were unsuccessful. The conclusion was 
that, while figs are sometimes attacked by the larve of the fig moth 
before they fall from the tree, it is the exception rather than the 
rule. The percentage of figs thus attacked is very small, the larger 
part of the infestation taking place later, while the figs are drying 
on the “serghi” or are piled in the fig depots. 
EGGS ON FIGS ON THE TREES. 
It was evident that the “ worms” were not present in any number 
in the figs when they dropped from the trees. But as they were 
known to appear in the figs a week or two after their dropping, and 
to be present in numbers when the figs arrived in Smyrna from the 
2 Beds of reeds or other suitable plants laid upon the ground to protect figs from con- 
tact with the soil while drying. 
