CHERRY INSECTS 



1145 



CHERRY FRUIT-FLIES 



Cherries, especially the late varieties, 

 are liable to be infested with the maggots 

 of two speties of spotted winged flies 

 (Rhagoletis diir/i'lata, and Rhagolitis 

 fausta), as shown in Fig. 370. These 

 maggots are smaller and less curved than 

 the grub of the plum curculio. The 

 parent flies appear on the trees some time 

 in June but do not begin to lay eggs until 

 about two weeks later. The female inserts 

 the egg in a puncture through the skin 

 of the fruit. The maggot burrows 

 through the flesh, causing decay to set in as soon as the cherry 

 begins to ripen. As the maggot becomes larger, .breathing holes 

 nrc made through the skin of the fruit. Cherries infested by 

 fruit-fly maggots have a characteristic appearance; as decay 

 advances portions of the surface become sunken as shown in Fig. 

 371. The maggots become full-grown with the ripening of the 

 cherry, leave the fruit, and, just beneath the surface of the ground, 

 transform into puparia which somewhat resemble grains of wheat. 

 In this condition the insect passes the winter. There is only one 

 brood a ve.ir. 



FIG. 370. CHERRY 

 FRUIT-FLY RESTING 

 ON FRUIT 



(Photo by Illingworth.) 



FIG. 371. INFESTED CHERRIES AT ABOUT 

 THE TIME THE LARVAE LEAVE THEM 



