

MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT FLY IN BERMUDA. 5 



means plentiful. The loquat seemed to be the most abundant culti- 

 vated fruit, but few of the trees were as large or as well developed 

 as those in Florida or Hawaii, and their ripening fruit was, at the 

 time of the writer's visit, everywhere generally infested. Experi- 

 menters wishing to rear flies in large numbers for scientific purposes 

 would be forced, in the opinion of the writer, to depend upon imported 

 fruits, such as apples, in order to have a constant and satisfactory 

 supply. 



POSSIBILITY OF ERADICATION. 



From the experience of the writer with clean cultural methods 

 covering nearly two years in the city of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, 

 he believes that the Mediterranean fruit fly can be eradicated from 

 Bermuda within three years at the longest without the expenditure 

 of a prohibitive amount of money. If the fruit flies were not capable 

 of living so long in the adult stage, it is probable that the work of 

 eradication could be accomplished in less time. There is probably no 

 country in the world where the fruit fly exists in which the work of 

 eradication could be undertaken with such assurance of success, pro- 

 vided the work were placed in the hands of a persistent, well-informed, 

 intelligent person who could carry on an uninterrupted campaign au- 

 thorized by adequate legislation. The fruits infested at the present 

 time are such that no citizen would be forced to bear any real finan- 

 cial loss as the result of such a campaign. The peach and loquat 

 fruits are practically all destroyed yearly by the fly, and the Surinam 

 cherries are of no commercial value. By the judicious use of axe and 

 saw and by thorough cutting of flowers or young fruit on those few 

 trees that can not for various reasons be either cut down or prevented 

 temporarily from bearing by severe pruning, the host fruits could be 

 eliminated. It has already been shown that oranges and' grapefruit 

 act more as traps for the fruit fly than as hosts if allowed to remain 

 on the tree until sufficiently ripe for table purposes, and such trees 

 of value need not be destroyed provided the fruit be gathered before 

 it becomes overripe. 



The Bermuda agricultural authorities had already secured the 

 passage of legislation against this pest and started clean cultural 

 work as early as March, 1907, when the board of agriculture, as 

 stated by Col. Winter in a letter to the writer under date of February 

 20, 1914, was given the power to "prohibit the growing of any fruit 

 or vegetable, to clear off fruit, *cut back or destroy as necessary any 

 trees or vegetables, and to clean up the ground beneath them." 

 The inspection work was already yielding good results when the fruit 

 fly destruction act of 1907, under which it was being carried on, 

 lapsed on December 31, 1910. No work was done during 1911 and 

 1912, although a new act was passed in June of the latter year. Dur- 

 ing 1913 inspections were again started, but apparently had accom- 



