64 N.S. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Anything sprayed with rosalic acid will afterwards give a red colora- 

 tion to a potash solution, thus if flies were sprayed with it, they would 

 give the required re-action if dropped into the potash. Hence, if flies 

 were liberated, after being sprayed, from a certain tree, on a certain date, 

 and a few were later caught which reacted, we would thus have informa- 

 tion as to how far they had flown and to the number of days they had 

 been abroad. With the kindly assistance of Mr. G. E. Sanders, Domin- 

 ion Field Officer for Nova Scotia, some 152 flies were accordingly sprayed 

 and liberated from certain trees in orchards which were already badly in- 

 fested. Tanglefoot bands were then hung on all the trees to a distance of 

 about 200 feet on each side of the tree to catch any adults, some of the 

 bands having kerosene poured over them, since this liquid seems to have 

 an attractive force for the adults. But only two flies were captured and 

 these failed to re-act. 



Other flies were marked by having a white silken thread fastened 

 to one of their legs, but although we cut the thread as short as possible, 

 it interfered with flight and we accordingly had to discard this method. 



Although we could obtain no definite information upon the length 

 of flight it is quite evident that they do not fly for long distances, for if 

 they did, the whole apple growing section of the province would soon be 

 infested. Frequently, it is only one orchard in a neighborhood that will 

 be infested, and just as often, only a few trees in those orchards. Severely 

 though these trees may be attacked, those nearby may be quite free. 



How then, is the pest spread? It is very probably disseminated by 

 the importation of maggoty fruit into non-infested localities. If the culls, 

 rotten apples or cores from such fruit, are thrown out, say, in the yard or 

 orchard, the maggots present would pupate, with the result that in the 

 following season the adults would infest the nearby orchards. An owner of 

 a cider press, near Digby, attributes the infestation of his orchard to the 

 use of the waste from the very badly infested apples as fertilizer in his 

 orchard. It is also known where apples from the same neighborhood from 

 which the badly infested apples mentioned previously came, have been 

 carried up into the Valley to be repacked at warehouses. It is not known 

 what happened to the culls from these apples, but the danger is present, 

 nevertheless, for the fruit growers in that district. Infested fruit should 

 not be sold outside the infested area, as there is always this danger of 

 spreading the pest. 



Length of Life. 



In working out this point, numbers of flies were kept alive in pots 

 for varying lengths of time. In ordinary flower pots were planted seed- 

 ling trees, over which lantern globes were placed, and which also enclosed 

 the flies. The flies were provided with moisture and food in the shape 

 of sliced apples or molasses. By this method several flies lived for_six 



