REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I907 33 



beneath the skin around the blossom end of the apple or at a point 

 vv-here two apples touch each other, producing an irregular sunken 

 area covered by the unruptured yellowish or yellowish brown skin 

 of the apple. This species rarely penetrates the fruit to the depth 

 of half an inch. Its operations may continue till late in the season, 

 considerable injury occurring even after the fruit has been barreled. 

 The observations of Mr Fred Johnson show that this species was 

 locally quite as abundant and destructive to apples at North East, 

 Pa. during 1906 as the codling moth. It also worked upon the 

 domestica variety of plums. The larva resembles very closely that 

 of the codling moth larva and may be distinguished therefrom by 

 the peculiar comb-like structure, visible with a magnifying glass, on 

 the posterior extremity. It is probable that thorough spraying for 

 the codHng moth will control this species very largely. A detailed 

 account of this insect is given by A. L. Quaintance in Bulletin 68, 

 part 5, Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



Apple maggot or railroad worm (Rhagoletis pomo- 

 nella Walsh). The work of this native, widely distributed pest 

 appears to become more apparent from year to year in New York 

 State at least, and in some localities this species has been responsible 

 for serious injuries. The parent insect is a blackish, two-winged 

 fly about the size of our common house fly, and conspicuous because 

 of its white banded abdomen and the black bands across its other- 

 wise nearly colorless wings. This insect appears in early summer 

 and deposits its eggs under the skin of the fruit after making a 

 small incision. The wound soon closes and becomes almost in- 

 visible, while the young maggot, hatching from the egg, grows 

 slowly, maturing more rapidly as the fruit ripens. The maggots 

 are so active in the latter stages that fruit apparently sound one 

 day may be literally honeycombed by the pests on the next. This 

 is particularly likely to occur in the case of well ripened sweet 

 apples. This species manifests a decided partiality for early apples, 

 some varieties being very badly infested. The presence of the 

 maggots seems to hasten ripening of the fruit, which latter usually 

 drops, and the pests escaping therefrom enter the soil and complete 

 their transformations therein. Breeding continues till late in the 

 fall, the insects wintering under ground as pupae. This insect 

 not only attacks the early sweet varieties, but it is also occasionally 

 injurious to the more valuable winter apples. The injury to these 

 latter is not usually nearly so pronounced and, as a rule, is indicated 

 2 



