82 



The Peach Fruit Fly. 



(PL IT, fig. 5.) 

 Dacus persicce, Bigot. 



(Rivellia persicce, Bigot, Indian Museum Notes, vol. I, p. 192, 1889. E. C- 



Cotes, I.e., p. 195.) 



"The fly here described certainly belongs to the family Ortalidse, by the 

 neuration of the wings. It seems to rne identical with the genus Rivellia^ 

 Desv., following the classification of Rondani (Bull, del Soc. Entom. Italia, 

 Firenze, 1869); and it ought to be included in the large genus Daeus o 

 Fabricius (Macquart, Dipt, de Europe et exotique). 



u The specimens examined (^ and _?Vwere damaged, and in such bad 



condition that their description may not be quite exact. As this species- 

 appears to me to be new, I propose for it the name of Rivellia persicce. 



" Male and female. Length, 7 mm., the ovipositor projecting. 



" Antennae dull yellow, with the extremities blackish ; palpi pale yellow ; 

 head and face reddish ; angles of the sides blackish, with two light lines on 

 the inner margin of the eyes ; clypeus reddish, with two large, longitudinal 

 bands, somewhat indistinct, with a greyish-brown pubescence ; shoulder.-*, two 

 narrow lateral lines, pale yellow ; scutellum greyish-yellow. Abdomen 

 reddish, with a narrow dorsal line, black, indistinct anteriorly; o\ipo-itor 

 depressed, angular at the extremity, yellowish, the rest of a light yellow to 

 dark brown ; legs yellow ; the posterior tibia brownish at the bas^ and 

 extremities ; tarsi white ; wings hyaline, the longitudinal nervures clouded 

 with yellow at the base ; stigma pale yellow. The wing is marked with a 

 a small, blackish patch, situated at the extremity between the costal nervure 

 and the third longitudinal nervure (of Rondani)." 



The above is a translation of Bigot's description of the fruit-fly wliic'i was 

 sent to him from Chota Nagpur, India, by E. C. Cotes, the Director of the 

 Calcutta Museum. They were bred from maggots that were very destructive 

 to peaches grown in that district, from which habit Bigot gav- it the 

 specific name persiccv. 



Mr. Irvine, who collected the specimens, sent some interesting notes. He 

 says : " To stop the injury or ameliorate the harm done, I intend trying the 

 effect of removing at least 6 inches of the soil from under the trees dur ng 

 the cold weather, and thoroughly baking the same, which must kill a 1 1 there 

 is in the soil of insect life. I would further recommend the instant re > oval 

 of all pierced fruits which fall to the ground, and the burning of the -a e, or 

 else placing them in a trough of water for at least twenty-four hours. 



" Whether the millions of larva? that have pupated in the soil during the 

 peach-crop season, when hundreds of decaying fruit fell to the ground, have 

 since taken wing, or remain to hibernate in the soil till next season's crop, is- 

 a problem to solve." 



When working in conjunction with Mr. Hewlett I obtained ma. y speci- 

 mens of this species on the wing among the melon patches at Pusa, n ar the 

 Imperial Research Labora'ories ; and this was one of the two specie- that 

 was attracted, both there and at Bangalore, by the scent of the citronella. 

 oil. In the peach orchard attached to the station at Pusa nearly every each 

 in the orchard was infested and thousands of fine fruit were lying un er the 

 trees, full of maggots. 



