THE ANNONACEOUS FRUITS 175 



ported from Madeira to London net the growers $1.00 to $1.20 

 a dozen. In Argentina the average price to growers is $2.20 

 a dozen. 



Pests and diseases. 



Although the cherimoya has up to the present suffered 

 little from the attacks of insect and other pests in California 

 and Florida, it is far from being exempt from them in regions 

 where it has been grown extensively for a long period. In 

 Hawaii, Pseudococcus filamentosus Cockerell is a serious enemy. 

 Several other coccids have also been reported on the cherimoya, 

 Aulacaspis miranda Cockerell and Ceropute yucca? Coquillet 

 are two which are mentioned from Mexico. Certain of the 

 fruit-flies (Trypetidse) are known to attack the fruits of the 

 cherimoya. Throughout the warmer parts of America there 

 are small chalcid flies, related to the wheat-joint worm and the 

 grape-seed chalcid, which infest the seeds of annonaceous fruits. 

 Bephrata cubensis Ashm. has been reported as attacking the 

 cherimoya in Cuba. These insects are serious pests. In 

 Argentina the attacks of borers are said to reduce the life of 

 the average tree by half, making it thirty in place of sixty years. 



Varieties (Fig. 24). 



While there are important differences among seedling cheri- 

 moyas, affecting not only the productiveness and foliage of the 

 tree but also the size, form, character of surface, color, quality, 

 and number of seeds of the fruit, few named varieties have 

 as yet been propagated. In the Pomona College Journal of 

 Economic Botany (May, 1912) the author has described two, 

 viz., Mammillaris and Golden Russet, which have been propa- 

 gated in California on a limited scale. Neither of these, how- 

 ever, merits extensive cultivation ; hence the descriptions will 

 not be included in this work. It seems desirable, however, to 

 repeat the botanical classification of seedling cherimoyas pub- 



