104 



The first record of Ceratitis capitata in Australia was made by Fuller 

 (Journal of the Bureau of Agriculture, W.A., February, 1897). Later on he 

 stated that it was first observed at Guildford in October and November of the 

 previous year infesting limes, afterwards in apricots, and towards the end of 

 the year in peaches, nectarines, and figs. In the March number of the 

 same journal he gave a good plate of the fly and its life history. Tryon in 

 the meantime received specimens from Western Australia, and determined it 

 as the well-known fruit pest of the Mediterranean (77. capitata). In the 

 following year (1898) French wrote to me from Melbourne stating that he 

 had bred this fly from peaches imported into Victoria from Sydney, and a 

 few days later I was surprised to find a number of the identical .species 

 flying about in the breeding-jars in my laboratory, breeding from fruit that 

 was supposed to be infected with Queensland fruit-fly. As we were all on 

 the lookout for this fruit pest at tne time, there can be no doubt about the 

 time of its arrival in Sydney. It was established in Western Australia 

 nearly two years before it was discovered in Sydney ; at that time a good 

 deal of citrus fruit was being imported into Australia vid Italy, though some 

 of it was brought in the first instance from the African coast and reshipped 

 from Naples. At that time, too, fruit-fly was common in the African oranges, 

 and also in southern Italy and Sicily. Therefore there is very strong evidence 

 that we got it from European countries ; and though we may have had it 

 direct from Western Australia, it is just as likely that it was brought to us 

 by fruit in one of the mail steamers. The popular name. " Mediterranean 

 Fruit Fly," was first used by me (" Notes on Fruit-maggot Flies, with descrip- 

 tions of New Species," Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales] to distin- 

 guish it from the northern species, which we call the " Queensland Fruit Fly" 

 (Dacus tryoni]. 



This fly has spread all through the citrus orchards of New South Wales to 

 a greater or less extent, but until a fjw years ago was unknown in the 

 southern parts of this State and the adjoining State of Victoria. At the 

 present time, however, it is found in orchards at Albury and in quite a 

 number of Victorian orchards, where it has become more or less established. 



For a long time it was believed that it was not to be found in Queensland ; 

 and though, from what I can learn, it is not common, yet it is found in 

 Queensland fruit, and I have specimens from Brisbane. Though it has been 

 introduced into Tasmania several times in damaged fruit, it has not gained a 

 footing in that State ; and South Australia is to be congratulated on keeping 

 this pest out of its boundaries. In Western Australia, in the vicinity of 

 Perth and all through the citrus orchards, it is as great a pest to fruit-growing 

 as in the similar climate of New South Wales. 



In New Zealand, according to their last Annual Report (1907), this fruit- 

 fly has been introduced into that country on several occasions, and was 

 established to the extent that fruit grown in Napier and sent to another part 

 of New Zealand produced a large crop of Mediterranean fruit-flies. There is, 

 however, without doubt a climate limit to the spread and development of this 

 pest, even though it may appear in considerable numbers under particularly 

 favourable conditions for one season, as it did in the neighbourhood of Paris 

 in 1906, as described by Professor A. Giard. 



From inquiries I made in Paris from Professor Marchel, it is evident that 

 they did not become properly established, for they were not a pest the 

 following year. 



