386 NATURAL HISTORY OF HAWAII. 



where it occurs as a pest on a number of ornamental plants, most noticeably on 

 the species of Gardenia and Coleus. 



The scale has a white body and black head, and its presence induces the 

 growth of a sooty mould so that everything it overruns turns black, often 

 leaving whole fields of Lantana leaves in a blackened condition as though run 

 through by fire. It is a decidedly beneficial parasite working against Lantana, 

 and were it not for its unfortunate tendency to spread to beneficial and orna- 

 mental plants, it would have been credited with a large share of the laurels 

 due the insects that have given man the control over this plant pest. 



The effect of the ]\laui blight on Lantana-ridden pasture land was early 

 recognized by ranchmen, and it is said by some that they very unwisely aided 

 in its spread to new fields and to dift'erent islands. Fortunately, as yet it has 

 done more good than harm, though there are many who are fearful of what 

 it may do in the future. 



Of the effort of man to secure control over the Lantana in Hawaii, it can 

 be said that the work done by scientific men in seeking out, introducing, breed- 

 ing and spreading the natural enemies of this noxious plant has been singu- 

 larly successful; so successful, indeed, that everywhere in the group the pest 

 has been arrested in its invasion of the land, while in certain localities Lantana 

 has been completely routed by its minute enemies. Brilliant and successful 

 as has been the Lantana campaign, there is unfortunately a long list of intro- 

 duced insect pests ^'' for which, in spite of the fact that persistent search has 

 been made to secure them, there seems to be no known effective natural para- 

 sitic or predaceous enemy. 



The ^Mediterranean Fruit-Fly. 



As one of the most recent as well as the most troublesome introductions 

 in this class, the Mediterranean fruit-fly ^'^ may well be mentioned, as there is 

 scarcely a fruit grown in Hawaii that is not attacked by this pest. It is about 

 the size of a common house-fl.y; the body is yellowish, the eyes of a reddish- 

 purple tint, and the back and wings variously marked witJi blotches and lines 

 of black, yellow and dirty white. The home of the species is supposed 

 to be about the Mediterranean, perhaps in Africa, from whence it has been 

 distributed by commerce to many lands, among them Australia. From Aus- 

 tralia the fly has doubtless been introduced into Hawaii. 



The eggs are inserted by the female fly in the various kinds of fruit Avhen 

 they are just turning ripe. By the time the fruit is ripe the white wriggling 

 maggot is ready to emerge. Leaving the fruit, it burrows in the ground a short 

 distance and forms for itself a wheat-shaped ]inp;i case from which it emerges 

 in a few days as an adult. 



The species was first noticed in llonohdu during the summer of lUlO. By 

 the summer of 1912 it had spread to all the large islands of the group and is 

 now common wherever fruit is grown. 



Among tlicin many that are exceedingly troul)lesonie. i" Cerntitis capitata. 



