1912] Paine — The Yellow Currant Fly or Gooseberry Fruit Fly 143 



acteristic, and the one by which it may be most easily recognized 

 while alive, is the nervous habits previously described.. For a 

 complete technical description of the insect the reader should 

 turn to Doctor Harvey's report ('95) on the fly in Maine. 



REMEDIAL MEASURES. 



The methods usually recommended are as follows: 



1. Frequent burning of fallen currants. If some of the maggots 

 leave the fruit before it falls, this remedy cannot be relied on to 

 destroy all the flies. However, in fighting a pest it is often the 

 application of a series of control measures which becomes effective. 



2. The removal of the top soil underneath the bushes to a depth 

 of two or three inches and placing the same in a traveled roadway 

 or burying it deep would destroy the pupae in the ground. This, 

 of course, should be done only after the crop has entirely gone. 



3. A mulch of coarse straw or hay under the bushes, well packed, 

 might hinder the flies from emerging. The efficiency of this 

 remedy is doubtful. 



4. Allowing young chickens to run under the bushes at the time 

 of ripening of the fruit should lessen the numbers of the pests. 



5. A measure which seems to have met with approval is to pick 

 and destroy the entire crop while green. If there is no fruit in 

 which the ffies may lay their eggs they must go elsewhere or 

 perish. This remedy is usually classed as "radical" or "heroical, " 

 but the fruit in this vicinity could not be used in any event and 

 might just as well have been destroyed before the larvae had an 

 opportunity to enter the ground. Of course, where the infesta- 

 tion is light, this might not be advisable if part of the crop could 

 be harvested. For most people, however, a few wormy berries 

 in a basket, provided they knew it, would be sufficient to render 

 them unfit for use, unless they did as one discouraged and disgusted 

 lady suggested, "Pickle them and save meat bills" — ^lier fruit 

 was fairly alive with maggots. The trouble with this, as well as 

 with the other remedies, is the fact that if your neighbor has 

 bushes and does not take the same precautions, he will supply you, 

 the following spring, with a bountiful supply of the insects. If, 

 however, no fruit is grown in the vicinity this method should 

 prove effective. 



