SB 

 818 

 C578 

 ENT 



i-n V. insoctd 



U. S. NatMuB. 



lo. 101, 



Issued May 4, 1908. 



aited States Department of Agriculture, 



I BUREAU OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



L. O. HOWARD, Entomologist and Chief of Bureau. 



THE APPLE MAGGOT OR " RAILROAD WORM." 



{Rhagoletis [Trypeta'\ pomonella Walsh.) 



By A. L. QUAINTANCE, 



In Charge of Deciduous Fruit Insect Investigations. 



Five important insect pests injure the fruit of the apple in the 

 United States, namely, the codling moth {Carpocapsa pomonella L.), 

 the lesser apple worm {Enarmon'ta prunioora "Walsh), the plum cur- 

 culio {Conotrachelus nenuphar Hbst.), the' apple curculio {Antho- 

 nomus quadrigihhus Say), and the species under consideration. 



Fig. 1. — .\pple maggot (Rhagoletis pomonella) : a, \6.n\t\ b, larva or maggot; c, funnel 

 of cephalic spiracle : d, puparium ; e, portion of apple showing injury by maggots. 

 a, 6, and d. Enlarged; c, still more enlarged; e, reduced. (Oiiglnal.) 



The apple maggot, as the name implies, is the larva of a fly or 

 dipterous insect, and belongs to the family Trypetida?, which group 

 contains numerous other fruit-infesting maggots,*^ some of them very 

 serious pests, and, from their structure, mode of life, and feeding 

 habits, very diiRcult of control. Apples injured or "railroaded" 

 by the apple maggot show discolored winding burrows, or tracks, and 



'^ Anastrepha (Trypeta) ludens Loew., the so-called Mexican orange worm, is 

 an enemy of oranges in portions of Mexico, infesting also the guava and mango, 

 and A. acidusa Walk, infests the i)each in the same country. Rhagoletis 

 ribicola Doane infests currants and gooseberries in the United States, as does 

 also Epochra canadensis Loew. 7?. cingulata Loew has recently been found to 

 be a cherry pest in this country, working in a way similar to the European 

 cherry fly, Trypeta eerasi L. {signata Meig.). CeratHis capitata Wied., the so- 



36878— No. 101—08 



