386 NATl'RAL IIISTOKY OF HAWAII. 



where it oeeur.s as a pest on a nuiiiber of ornamental plants, most noticeably on 

 the species of Gardenia and Coleus. 



The scale has a white body and black head, and its presence induces the 

 growth of a sooty mould so that everything it overruns turns black, often 

 leaving whole fields of Lantana leaves in a blackened condition as though run 

 through by fire. It is a decidedly beneficial parasite working against Lantana, 

 and were it not for its unfortunate tendency to spread to beneficial and orna- 

 mental jtlants, it would have been credited with a large share of the laurels 

 due tiii^ insects that have given man the control over this plant pest. 



'i'lic effect of the Maui lilii;iit on Lantana-ridden pasture land was early 

 recognized by ranchmen, and it is said by some that they very unwisely aided 

 in its spread to new fields and to different islands. Fortunately, as yet it has 

 (lone more good than hai'm. though there are many who are fearfvd of wluit 

 it may do in the future. 



Of the effort of nuin to secure control over the Lantana in Hawaii, it can 

 be said that the work done by scientific men in seeking out. introducing, breed- 

 ing and spreading the natural enemies of this noxious plant has been singu- 

 larly successful ; so successful, indeed, that everywhere in the group the pest 

 has been arrested in its invasion of the land, while in certain localities Lantana 

 has been completely routed by its minute enemies. Brilliant and successful 

 as has been the Lantana campaign, there is unfortunately a long list of intro- 

 duced insect pests ^■> for which, in spite of the fact that persistent search has 

 been made to secure them, there seems to he no Iciiown effective natural jiara- 

 sitic or predaceous enemy. 



The ^Iediterranean Fri'it-Fly. 



As one of the most recent as well as the nuisv troublesome introductions 

 in this class, the IMediterranean fruit-fly"' may well be mentioned, as there is 

 scarcely a fruit grown in Hawaii that is not jittacUcd by this pest. It is about 

 the size of a common house-fly: the body is ycll(:A\ish, the eyes of a reddish- 

 purjile tint, and the back and wings variously m;!rked with blotches and lines 

 of black-, yellow and dirty white. The home of the species is supposed 

 to be aliout tlie ^Mediterranean, perhaps in Africa, from whence it has been 

 disfi'ibuted by commerce to many lands, among them Australia. From Aus- 

 tralia the tly has doulitless been introduced into Hawaii. 



The eggs are inserted by the female fly in the various kinds of fruit when 

 they are .just turning ripe. By the time the fruit is ri])c the white wriggling 

 maggot is ready to emerge. Leaving the fruit, it burro'ws in the gmund a short 

 distance and forms for itself a wheat-shapeil jiupa c:ise ti'imi which it emerges 

 in a few days as an adult. 



The species was first n<itice(l in Iloncilnlu d\ii'ing the suiiimei- of 1910. By 

 the summer of 1912 it had spi'cad to ;ill the large islands of tlie uroup and is 

 now common wherever fruit is grown. 



"■Among tllem many that are excecdingl.v trnubli some. '" Ccrrtitis raj.iOjIii. 



