4*3 ?l;OCEEDIXGS OF THE THIRD E-VTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



[Ceratitis capitata. 



The Mediterranean Fruitfly, Ceratitis capitata, has not yet been found 

 in India, but it is very widely distributed now and it is quite possible 

 that it may be introduced some time, so perhaps Dr. C4ough will tell us 

 something about it from his experience in Egypt. 



It is very bad in Egypt in gardens where several kinds of fruit are 

 grown, such as oranges, guava, apricot and peach. In such cases it has 

 the chance of passing through a generation in each of these fruits. If 

 there is only one kind of fruit, for example, if only oranges are present, 

 there is not much damage done. We have also taken it from dates. 

 At present nothing is done to control it and no parasites are known. 



Have you any other fruitflies in Egypt besides Ceratitis ? 



No ; Ceratitis capitata is the only fruitfly so far known to attack 

 cultivated plants in Egj-pt. 



You ought to be careful not to get Chcetodacus cuciirbitw introduced 

 from India. It might easily be carried from Bombay or other ports in 

 the larval state in vegetables or as an adult on board ship. 



We ought to be quite safe, because we have twenty miles of desert 

 in the Suez Canal region and Port Said is also separated from Cairo by a. 

 belt of desert. 



The adult fly is very long-lived pro%-ided it can obtain food. It can 

 live for two or three hundred days or more under favourable conditions. 



\Miilst I was in Bombay I had some oranges which were probably 

 Egyptian oranges ; so, if these oranges are imported, there is danger of 

 the introduction of Ceratitis capitata from Egypt into India. It will 

 pay the Indian Government to stop the importation of Egyptian fruit 

 altogether. It is not much of a trade. Quarantine is of no avail ; entire 

 prohibition is needed. 



There certainly have been importations of oranges from Egypt into- 

 Bombay in the past. We are indebted to Dr. Gough for caUing our 

 attention to the dajiger of importation of Ceratitis capitata into India, 

 by this means.] 



PSILID^. 



(Til-Root Fly.) 



? Psila sp., Hewlett, Ind. Ins. Life, p. 629, f. 415 (1909). 



? Psila sp., Proc. Second Entl. Meeting, p. 85 (1917). 

 This fly, which is supposed to be a species of Psila, bores in the larval 

 state in the roots of Sesammn irtdiciim. It is said to be a serious pest- 

 at Hoshangabad and has been noticed at Nagpur and Pusa. 



