-7- 



In the laboratory and progeny from these crosses were reared successfully. 



For some reason, recently there has been an attempt to prettify the name 

 of this insect by calling It the blueberry fruit fly. Members of the family to 

 which it belongs are collectively called fruit flies and that may sound more 

 delicate or even palatable to some, but it is the maggot that develops in the 

 fruit that causes the trouble. 



Blueberry maggot has but one generation a year. The winter is passed in 

 the pupal case as a maggot buried near the surface of the soil. The maggots 

 transform to pupae in the spring and emerge as flies beginning about mid- June. 

 Emergence is mostly accomplished in a month, but stragglers keep coming out 

 until late summer. 



The flies are black in color, with white bands on the abdomen, reddish 

 colored eyes, and the wings are marked with characteristic black bands. The 

 newly emerged flies do not lay eggs until about 10 days after they have emerged, 

 the first egg laying usually coinciding with the period when the first early 

 ripening fruit is turning blue. 



Eggs are layed singly under the skin of the berry, and though several may 

 be placed in one berry, only one maggot has ever been known to mature from one 

 berry. The eggs hatch in about a week and the maggot develops in the berry, turning 

 the inside into a mixture of purple juice and seeds. After feeding about 3 weeks 

 the maggots leave the berries, enter the soil and form puparia in which they re- 

 main until the next or some following spring when they finish development and 

 emerge as flies. Some of the maggots remain in their puparia for two and even 

 more years before emerging. 



During the summer of 1954, a 3-acre field in Wareham became so heavily in- 

 fested with maggots that picking had to be discontinued. Maggot counts in mid- 

 August were over 150 per pint of berries. 



The following summer, sticky board traps baited with yeast hydrolysate were 

 maintained in this field during the main flight period of the fly. Dusts were 

 applied according to times indicated by capture of the flies. A 4% Malathion dust 

 was used at the rate of 40 pounds per acre and was applied by helicopter on July 7 

 and 17, No maggots were found in the fruit of this field in 1955. 



During the 1957 season, another field with heavy fly populations and maggot 

 counts was brought to my attention by the grm^er who had been aware of the problem 

 for a year or two previously, but had been able to keep out of trouble by frequent 

 and careful picking and prompt movement of the fruit. 



In 1958, ten traps were placed in this field v/ith flies being caught in 

 tremendous numbers (345 fly average) from the second week in July until the 

 end of the month,- and in diminishing numbers until early October in spite of 3 

 Malathion dust applications. Maggot counts in early August were 33 per pint in 

 this field. This was probably the result of late application of the first dust 

 and too long an interval between the first and second dust applications because 

 of poor flying weather. 



Another field of this same grox^er was divided into 2 one-acre plots for 

 receiving spray, plus a check area of about 1/2 acre which received no spray. 

 The sprayed plots received 3 pounds of 257. Malathion wettable powder plus a 



