July, 1914.] THE APPLE MAGGOT, 9 



SYSTEMATIC POSITION AND COMMON NAME. 



The apple maggot is a member of the family Trypetidce, a 

 large group of two-winged flies, the larvse typically inhabiting 

 living plant tissues. It was first assigned to the genus Trypeta. 

 The original description was published in 1867 by Benjamin Dane 

 Walsh (58), then acting state entomologist of Illinois, who had 

 reared adults from haws collected in Illinois and from larvae 

 acquired from Long Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. 

 To the new species he gave the name Trypeta pomonella. 



In the course of some prior systematic work on the group by 

 Dr. H. Loew the genus Trypeta had been subdivided. These 

 subdivisions holding, the species pomonella fell within the genus 

 Rhagoletis. The name as it now stands is Rhagoletis pomonella 

 Walsh. 



The common name, "apple maggot," was in use at the time 

 Walsh published his description. The name "railroad worm" 

 is current among many growers in New England. In New Hamp- 

 shire this term is almost universal. Evidently this name is 

 suggested by the tracks made by the maggot beneath the skin 

 of the fruit of certain varieties. Growers frequently speak of 

 infested apples or infested trees as "railroaded" or "railroady. " 

 In one section the common name of the species is "run-arounds. " 



EARLY HISTORY. 



Unquestionably the apple maggot was injuring cultivated 

 varieties of apple in various localities considerably more than 

 half a century ago. When Walsh described the species in 1867 he 

 noted, in addition to the record for Illinois, serious infestations 

 existing in Massachusetts, Coimecticut, central New York, and 

 at a point on Long Island. Vermont was already on the list in an 

 observation published in 1866 (60). It is probable that the 

 maggot was at work in cultivated apples in these places and in 

 others much earlier than the public writings specified. 



As time went on, and as entomological records were extended, 

 the published range of the species in cultivated fruit was in- 

 creased. In part this was due, doubtless, to the gradually in- 

 creasing damage done by the insect, in part probably to the 

 augmented interest in insects and the further study of them by 

 entomologists. 



