INSECT PESTS 103 



of minute pale yellow larvae. The small strips eaten away 

 by these larvae represent the cracks which are so con- 

 spicuous in affected fruit. 



As soon as the flowering stalk appears, the moth com- 

 mences to lay its eggs upon the large encircling bract. 

 The larvae upon hatching enter the bract at this spot and 

 commence to eat the skin of the young banana. The 

 minute thread-like larvae can be seen in great numbers on 

 the fruit as the bunch appears from the bract. 



Prevention. Pyrethrum dusted on to each " hand " by 

 means of a " puff " ball before the bract has properly 

 opened is recommended by Mr. Jepson as being a very 

 satisfactory method of dealing with this pest. 



THE RIPE-ROT FLY (Drosophila ampelophila) 



Major T. Brown, Entomologist to the Department of 

 Agriculture, New Zealand, has described the fly : * " Length, 

 2-5 mm. . . . colour variable, usually brownish yellow 

 . . . eyes bright red. Head as wide as thorax, with four 

 black setae on the vertex and about six along the inner 

 margin of each eye. . . . Wings large, hyaline, unspotted. 

 . . . This little cosmopolitan fly has become a great 

 nuisance, especially during warm weather, when it attacks 

 all sorts of fruit, more particularly bananas, oranges, and 

 pineapples which have been bruised or begun to decay. 

 ... It also commits havoc with good fruit that has been 

 cut." 



FRUIT FLY (Dacus Tryoni Frogt.) 



Mr. H. Tryon writes of this flyf that it punctures the 

 skin of the green banana before it is of full size and deposits 

 its eggs beneath in groups of a few individuals. The position 

 is marked by a small black spot contrasting with the green 

 skin, which widens out later to form a blotch of dis- 



* Bulletin No. 4, Div. of Biology and Horticulture, New Zealand Dej>t. 

 of Agric., 1905, pp. 5 and 6. Quoted in Jepson's Report. 

 f Queensland Agric. Journ., xxviii. 360 (1912). 



