30 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA: 



reared. It is to be hoped that none but the most carefiil 

 will try to rear these flies artificially, for should this pest 

 obtain a footing, which is extremely probable, the fruit 

 grower will have to pack up and be off, there being, at 

 present, no known remedy. But nature may provide, in 

 the shape of some parasite, a means by which the fly 

 may be kept in check if not stamped out altogether ! 



In writing of the above insect, Mr. Froggatt, 

 Government Entomologist of New South Wales, who, 

 with Mr. Tryon, of Queensland, has had constant 

 opportunities of watching fruit flies in the orchards and 

 elsewhere, remarks that this fly is quite a modern 

 importation, as it was not until 1897 that it was 

 discovered in orchards near Perth in Western Australia, 

 and shortly after this Mr. Froggatt found them flying 

 about in the breeding jars from peaches supposed to be 

 infected with the Queensland Fruit Fly (Dacus tryoni) 

 which had been obtained at the Sydney Fruit Markets. 

 Mr. Froggatt further remarks, in his valuable treatise 

 Notes on Fruit Maggot Fly, "That, though previously 

 unknown in the Colonies, it had a well known record in 

 Europe as far back as 1826, when it was described by 

 Wiedmann as an orange pest, under the name of 

 Citriperda capitata; and a few years after by Macleay, 

 who published a large colored plate of the perfect insect. 

 In this paper he, Mr. Macleay, stated that fully one- 

 third of the oranges shipped to London from the Azores 

 were rendered unfit for use before reaching their 

 destination through the presence of this maggott when 

 they were packed. 



"Early in 1890, an article appeared in a publication 

 known as Insect Life, where the fly was described and 

 figured as a peach pest in the Bermudas. It was said to 

 attack green and half -ripe peaches and mandarins most, 

 and one correspondent reported that the larger oranges 

 were not attacked. 



"In 1892, J. H. Cook gave an account of the Orange 

 Fruit Fly, in Malta. He stated that the whole of the 



