FOUNDLINGS AMONGST FRUIT 451 



the ramifications of commerce, in almost all tropical and 

 temperate lands. Every year its larvae are imported into 

 Britain in hundreds within Spanish oranges, to perish 

 miserably in the marmalade pot uncomfortable thought! 

 Yet even when the Fly emerges in Britain, it does not seem 

 to establish itself, owing probably to our temperate clime or 

 to our weather. But it is common in southern Europe, and in 

 Africa, from Tunis to the Cape; it has obtained a foothold 

 in Australia and New ^Zealand, has been intercepted in 

 California, and has been declared a pest in British Columbia. 

 There are indeed few worlds left for the Mediterranean 

 Fruit Fly to conquer. 



Every fruit has its pest, and if the apple has carried 

 the Mediterranean Fruit Fly whither it knew not, the Pear 

 has performed the same service for another two-winged 

 (Dipterous) Fly, the Pear Midge (Contarinia (Diplopsis] 

 pyrivora). Since it was introduced to Britain, probably from 

 Europe, many years ago, this insect has done much and 

 ever increasing injury to the pear crop. It is distributed 

 throughout Europe and has become a nuisance in the 

 north-eastern parts of the United States. 



CODLIN MOTH 



Other pests utilize the apple much in the same way as 

 the Fruit Fly; take for example that notorious destroyer of 

 orchards, the Codlin Moth (Cydia (Carpocarpsa] pomonella] 

 (Figs. 77 and 78, p. 452). See with what fine adjustment 

 the life-cycle of the Codlin Moth has been arranged for its 

 own success and man's distraction! The adult moth, a tiny 

 creature less than three-quarters of an inch across the ex- 

 panded wings, has deep grey forewings, with heavy brown lines 

 and golden tips, and darker shimmering golden hindwings. 

 It lays its eggs in the "eye" of a young apple and the cater- 

 pillar on hatching bores into the pulp, and spends the next 

 three or four weeks of its life feeding comfortably and eating 

 its way towards the centre of the apple, where it destroys 

 seeds and core. It is now that the danger of transportation 

 is to be feared, for the duration of the caterpillar stage 

 within the apple is sufficiently long to afford plenty of 

 opportunities for travel. In any case, if the apples be 

 stored, the moth larvae are safely tucked away within them 



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