BULLETIN OF THE 



K 



No. 134 



Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology, L. O. Howard, Chief 

 October 7, 1914. 



(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 



CITRUS FRUIT INSECTS IN MEDITERRANEAN 

 COUNTRIES. 



By H. J. Quayle. 



THE MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT-FLY. 2 



Ceratitis capitata Wied. 



OCCURRENCE. 



In the Mediterranean countries the Mediterranean fruit-fly {Ceratitis 

 capitata Wied.) was first recorded from Spain in 1842, from Algeria 

 in 1859, from southern Italy in 1870, from Sicily in 1882, from Tunis 

 in 1885, from Malta in 1893, from Egypt in 1904, and from France in 

 1900. 3 This chronology, however, does not necessarily represent the 

 spread of the insect, for it may have occurred in some of the countries 

 long before any published record appears. In addition to the coun- 

 tries enumerated it is also said to occur in Asiatic Turkey. In the 

 Mediterranean vicinity it is recorded from the Azores, Madeira, and 

 Cape Verde Islands. The writer has taken this insect at Valencia 



i This paper is of immediate value on account of the important information it contains bearing on the 

 subject of the need of regulating the entry of citrus and other fruits imported from Mediterranean countries to 

 prevent the entry of the Mediterranean fruit fly into the United States. The investigations embodied 

 in this paper were made by Prof. Quayle during the summer of 1913 as a collaborator of the Federal Horti- 

 cultural Board of this Department. Prof. Quayle is an expert on citrus insects and has previously made 

 important studies in this field in California in connection with the State experiment station. Advantage 

 was taken of the fact that he was proposing to use his sabbatical year to make a world-wide survey of citrus 

 insects to commission him to make a much-needed preliminary survey of the citrus and other fruit insects 

 in Mediterranean countries, more particularly in relation to the export fruit to the United States. 



The fruit-fly conditions of the principal Mediterranean citrus districts was the important subject; the 

 report, however, includes data on other fruit insects which ought to be considered in relation to any pro- 

 posed regulation of the entry of fruits from countries covered. 



As having an important bearing also on the possibility of the entrance of the fruit fly with Mediterranean 

 fruit, the investigation includes a report on harvesting and marketing conditions of citrus fruit, more par- 

 ticularly as to methods of picking, sorting, curing, and shipping. 



This paper indicates very clearly that there is little danger of fruit-fly introduction from the lemon, 

 which is the main* citrus importation from Mediterranean countries. That there is some danger from 

 oranges and certain other fruits at particularly favorable seasons of the year has also been clearly brought 

 out. — C. L. Maklatt, Chairman Federal Horticultural Board. 



2 Italian, Mosca delta arance; Spanish, Mosca. 



3 For these and other facts, including a full bibliography of Ceratitis capitata, see Quaintance, A. L., U. S. 

 Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent., Circ. no. 160, 25 p., 1 fig., Oct. 5, 1912. 



51981°— Bull. 134—14 1 



