30 BULLETIN" 643, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ceive for shipment consignments of fruit unless they have received 

 from the Federal Horticultural Board a permit for such action. 

 These permits, which give data on the kind, amount, and origin of 

 fruit, the name and address of consignor and consignee, and dates, 

 are issued in triplicate ; the duplicate and triplicate remain* in the 

 files of the transporting company and the Federal Horticultural 

 Board, respectively. The original is attached to the bill of lading 

 accompanying the shipment and no consignment of fruit is permitted 

 to leave the ship at the port of destination unless this permit is pre- 

 sented to the Federal inspector. 



The duty of the inspector at the mainland ports is to make certain 

 that no express or freight consignments leave ships arriving from 

 Hawaii unaccompanied by the permit above mentioned, and that no 

 quarantined fruits or vegetables are present either in the ship's lock- 

 ers as ships' stores or in the possession of passengers, for all such are 

 contraband after the ship passes within the 3-mile limit of the main- 

 land. The inspector of the port of entry also must receive from each 

 passenger a statement that he has in his baggage no contraband fruits 

 or vegetables. Inspectors also have the right to search the personal 

 belongings of passengers and members of the crew. 



There seems little danger of fruit-fly pests reaching ihe mainland 

 from Hawaii in commercial consignments of fruit since Quarantine 

 Xo. 13 went into effect. The greatest danger at present lies in the 

 careless introduction of the pests by uninformed travelers ivho, with- 

 out appreciating the great financial losses the' Government is attempt- 

 ing to a-cert. persist in concealing aJbout their persons and baggage 

 contraband fruits, or in' sending these by express or post in packages 

 the contents of which are not stated tru-thfully. These are the ave- 

 nues of introduction that no law can close thoroughly. To close them, 

 honesty and cooperation with the Federal Horticultural Board on the 

 part of all are necessary. 



SUMMARY. 



The melon fly, a native of the Indo-Malayan region, is one of a 

 number of very destructive pests that are likely to be introduced into 

 the mainland United States. The quarantine officers of the Federal 

 Horticultural Board and of California are each year intercepting it 

 in infested fruits at California ports on ships from the Hawaiian 

 Islands. 



The melon fly was introduced into Hawaii about 1895 by Japanese 

 immigrants in fruits which they brought with them as food from 

 Japan. Before its arrival in Hawaii, cantaloupes, watermelons, toma- 

 toes, and all kinds of cucurbitaceous crops, such as pumpkins, 

 squashes, cucumbers, etc., were grown in large quantities and were 



