34 DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS OF VICTORIA: 



that from four to seven eggs are deposited in each 

 chamber, and that four are more frequently laid than 

 any other number. Flies are apparently not fit to lay 

 until they are four days old. 



An analysis of the above will show : 



1st. That from the time the egg is laid until 



larva is fully grown is 12 days. 

 2nd. That the chrysalis stage is 13 days. 

 3rd. That the life of the perfect insect, when fed > 



is 24 days. 



4th. That from the time the egg is laid until 

 the insect which it contains dies of old age is 

 50 days. 

 5th. That, when the fly is not fed, the 50 days 



are reduced to 29 days. 



I have not been able to determine the term of the 

 eggs' incubation." 



In Western Australia, Mr. Fuller remarks, "The 

 fruit is attached directly it begins to sweeten and before 

 it ripens, green fruit being seldom if ever attacked. 

 The eggs are laid in the fruit by means of a very sharp 

 needle-like organ called the ovipositor, borne on the 

 extremity of the abdomen of the female. The maggots 

 are soft, yellowish white in colour, somewhat shining 

 and limbless worms, and somewhat resemble those of 

 the meat fly. The pupa and chrysalis are oval and 

 stout, at first a golden yellow but subsequently changing 

 to a reddish brown. The flies are pretty little insects 

 with two wings only, about half the size of the common 

 house fly. They have very large and lustrous eyes, the 

 thorax is mottled with grey and black, and the abdomen 

 is of a brownish yellow and crossed by thin stripes of a 

 silvery grey colour. The wings are large and simple. 

 They are transparent, strongly veined, and marked by 

 several clouded bands of grey and yellow colour. In 

 walking, the fly always carries its wings in a drooping 

 attitude. It is a very difficult thing to find the fly in an 

 infected orchard, although they may be present in large 



