July, 1914.] THE APPLE MAGGOT. 13 



Pettit of the Michigan Agricultural College writes that he has 

 many times found in crabs what appears to be the same larva, 

 but that attempts to breed the adults have not been successful. 



In New Hampshire the writer has observed maggots in crab- 

 apples growing in an orchard at Durham in which there are trees 

 badly infested with the apple maggot. The adults were not 

 reared. Reports from growers in New Hampshire occasionally 

 state that crabs are attacked, one orchardist adding the comment 

 that of two trees, one a yellow variety and one a red, one was 

 infested and the other was not. The writer believes that the 

 species is apt to occur in crabs that are located immediately 

 adjacent to badly infested early apples, under the same circum- 

 stances whichj as described later, may bring about infestation 

 of hard, winter apples, that are not naturally adapted to its life 

 economy. Varieties of crabs that mature their fruit early and 

 become mellow before freezing weather may serve as acceptable 

 hosts in the absence of other fruit near by. 



The New Hampshire notes as above cited refer to hybrid 

 crabs; in other words the varieties commonly found in orchards 

 or about farm homes. Whether the records cited from the writ- 

 ings of Riley and Fletcher refer to the same is not clear. Pro- 

 fessor Pettit's observations refer to hybrid crabs. The notes 

 from Vermont may not now definitely be assigned to either. 

 The observations of Ross refer to the Siberian crab, Malus hac- 

 cata Desf. 



If the maggot had its original home in the fruit of crabs, it 

 must have been in one of the native, American species. The 

 common crabs of our farms and orchards are hybrids of the wild 

 Siberian crab and the cultivated apple (1). None of them could 

 have served as the source of the species, for the same reason 

 that none of the cultivated apples could have done so. 



Of the native wild crabs we have three species (1). Two of 

 these, Pyrus angustifolia and P. rivularis, do not have such range 

 as would make them probable original hosts. The former is 

 our southern wild crab, found from Pennsylvania to Florida and 

 west to Louisiana. The latter is the "Oregon crab" of the 

 north Pacific coast. The third native species is P. coronaria. 

 The range of this is from Canada to Alabama, west to Kansas 

 and Texas. It is most abundant and most at home in the lower 



