47 



gan to issue from the fruit December 22. The fruit itself had rotted 

 and molded, and about oue-half the pulp had beeu devoured, although 

 the outside did not show it. In this particular orange the si)ot where 

 the decay began was where the fruit came in contact with the moist sand 

 at the bottom of the breeding-jar. 



In February he wrote that the adults had begun to issue, the first 

 one appearing February 9. A number of specimens of both sexes were 

 thus reared, and the experiment was tried of confining them with ripe 

 fruit to see whether they would oviposit in the orange if not on the 

 tree. This experiment, however, failed, and none of the flies laid eggs, 

 all dying after a number of days. It is doubtful, however, whether 

 this can be taken as evidence against the possibility of damage to 

 picked fruit. 



The larva, pupa, and adult of the insect are illustrated at figure 

 9, and these figures will enable the ready identification of the in- 

 sect, so that few words of description are necessary. The full-grown 

 larva is three-eighths of an inch in length, of a dirty white color, with 

 the extremities brownish. Its shape is shown in the figure, and it 

 may be readily distinguished from other larvae so far known to aifect 

 oranges by the two anal spiracles, each with its three transverse slits. 

 The puparium is shorter, oval, and of a dark-brown color. The gen- 

 eral color of the perfect fly is ochre yellow, with slightly darker mark- 

 ings, as indicated iu the figure. The markings on the wings are yel- 

 lowish toward base and smoky toward tip. 



There is little to say upon the subject of the possibility or probability 

 of the introduction of this pest into the orange districts of Louisiana, 

 California, and Florida. The fly is very hardy, and Mr. Bruuer states 

 that while in confinement it withstood considerable neglect, as well as 

 more than ordinary variation in temperature, the mercury on several 

 occasions falling some degrees below the freezing point in the room 

 where his breeding cage stood. So far as we can learn the New Or- 

 leans markets are mostly supplied with fruit from the Gulf States, 

 where this insect does not occur, and the oranges from Morelos go 

 north by railroad into the regions widely remote from any American 

 orange-growing section, so that the probability of introduction would 

 not seem to be great, although the possibility always exists and is be- 

 coming greater with the extension of railroad connection and facilities 

 for traffic. 



The habits of this species do not seem to have been described be- 

 fore. Ceratitis capitata{ = C. citriperda), however, a species of the same 

 family, attacks oranges in Madeira, according to OstenSacken (Entom. 

 Monthly Mag., xxi, 34, July, 1884). 



