BULLETIN 643, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Other fruits can be grown for the most part only under cover and at 

 increased cost. The unrestricted cultivation of fruits and vegetables 

 in Hawaii has been ruined by the melon fly and the Mediterranean 

 fruit fry. Though the latter is probably the more to be feared, many 

 persons regard the melon fly as of greater im- 

 portance from an Hawaiian standpoint, for it 

 attacks with the greatest persistency such crops 

 as squashes, pumpkins, vegetable marrows, to- 

 matoes, and beans, all of which could furnish 

 under the ideal Hawaiian climatic conditions 

 an abundance of food for the poorer people. 

 Such vegetables as muskmelons, watermelons, 

 pumpkins, squashes, and tomatoes can not be 

 grown to-day in many parts of the islands 

 unless the plants are screened carefully. 



Cantaloupes and watermelons, instead of be- 

 ing common and cheap delicacies, as in former 

 years, are now a luxury for even the wealthy. 

 Cantaloupes, once grown in large quantities 

 about Honolulu, now are imported from Cali- 

 fornia. It is no longer possible to grow pump- 

 kins as stock food on idle land. Quarantines 

 prohibit the export of early shipments of egg- 

 plant, bell peppers, and tomatoes, thus shut- 

 ting off an income formerly enjoyed by the 

 small farmer. The loss to market gardeners in 

 Hawaii as a result of melon-fly attack has been 

 placed conservatively at three-fourths of a mil- 

 lion dollars annually. It is not possible to 

 exaggerate the importance of the melon fly 

 as a serious pest under Hawaiian coastal con- 

 ditions. 



NATURE OF INJURY CAUSED BY THE 

 MELON FLY. 



Fig. 7. — Older squash 

 vine with abnormal 

 growths due to work 

 of melon-fly larvae. 

 (Authors' illustra- 

 tion.) 



The melon fly does not confine its attack to 

 the fruits of its host or food plants. It may 

 attack the young seedling, the flower, the root, 

 the stem, or the fruit. 



INJURY TO SEEDLING PLANTS- 



The melon fly attacks with severity the young succulent seedling 

 plants of watermelon and cantaloupe. The female fly lays her eggs in 



