DISEASES OF THE FIG TREE ] 153 



ripe fruit of the fig tree is much the same. However, 

 the fig-fly attacks only the ripe fig, . and is not known 

 to be injurious to other fruits. The fig-fly is frequently 

 met with on our fig trees, particularly on trees growing- 

 near heaps of manure, close to the farmstead, and on 

 this account it is supposed that the fig-fly breeds also 

 in decaying refuse or manure, like the common house 

 fly. The fig-fly is about half the size of the common 

 house fly, with the wings closely applied to its back, 

 in a straight line, and not spread out as in the fruit-fly, 

 or partly out as in the house fly. The fig-fly is of a 

 shining black colour, its body covered with hairs of the 

 same colour and its wings are dark brownish black. 

 When the fig is approaching maturity the insect lays its 

 eggs in the orifice, and presumably only there, as it has 

 not the powerful ovipositor of the fruit- fly with which 

 to penetrate its side. It also frequently deposits its eggs 

 on the over-ripe fruit which has dropped from the tree. 

 The eggs hatch in two or three days, and the larvae 

 penetrate into the interior of the fruit and soon destroy 

 it, imparting to it a rotten sour taste. In five or six 

 days the larvae become full grown, and come out of the 

 dropped fruit and hide themselves in the soil where in 

 a few hours they are transformed into a chrysalis, about 

 the size of that of the fruit-fly but of a darker colour. In 

 six or seven days the fly emerges from the chrysalis to 

 renew the evil. The fig- fly has three or four broods in 

 the year, but as the attacks of the later broods are hardly 

 more intense than those of the first and second broods, 

 it is possible that it is kept in check by some natural 

 enemy which so far has escaped detection. While the 

 fruit- fly attacks chiefly the figs on the top of the tree, 

 the fig-fly generally limits its attention to the fruits on 

 the lower branches and those in the interior of the 

 tree. The fig attacked by the fruit-fly becomes sour 

 only when the larvae have almost reached maturity, but 

 the larvae of the fig-fly cause the fruit to become sour 

 very soon after hatching, sometimes when they are still 



