68 [ DISEASES OF CITRUS TREES 



The caterpillar of a beautiful butterfly, Papilio cres- 

 phontes, Cramer, feeds upon the leaves of the orange- 

 tree in the southern states of North America. Hubbard 

 also describes and figures four species of moths, Lagoa 

 opercularis, Empretia stimulea, Phobetron Pithecinm and 

 Limacodes scapha, along with several species of bag- 

 worms which prey upon Citrus trees in the United States 

 but so far these insects are unknown in these Islands. 

 The larva of the well known moth Zeuzera pirina or Z. 

 Aesculi was found once tunnelling through a branch of 

 an orange tree in a local grove, but this is a solitary 

 instance of this moth attacking an orange- tree. 



A small moth, a species of Dacruma or Thalpochares, 

 common enough in our groves, wages a successful war 

 against the scale insects and will be referred to again 

 later on. 



Diptera. Of all insects affecting Citrus trees, that 

 which causes the largest amount of havoc to the crop, 

 is the fruit-fly. Two species of fruit-fly, improperly 

 called orange-fly, are known in the Mediterranean region, 

 viz: Halterophora capitata Rondani or Ceratitis citriperda 

 Uied, and Halterphora hispanica or Ceratitis hispanica. 

 The home of the first is India, and is a great deal more 

 common than the other. In favourable years there may 

 be a fly for each fruit. It is long about 6 m. m., a little 

 smaller than the common house-fly, with a white head 

 having a yellow line across. Its antennae are yellow 

 with white hairs; its thorax is black with four white 

 lines; its abdomen is made up of white and yellow bands; 

 its wings which are always kept outspread, have brown 

 spots and yellow lines above, and brown dots lower down 

 near their insertion. The other fruit-fly, Halterophora 

 hispanica, is smaller than the preceding. It has yellow 

 legs and greenish grey body, having brown spots hardly 

 visible on the wings. Unlike its congener it avoids the 

 sun, posting itself upon the trunk and large branches, 

 and seeking the fruit only to deposit eggs. 



