4 BULLETIN 491, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



as much damage as in the Hawaiian Islands. He has also found it at 

 Hongkong. 



Singapore. — The melon fly was reported from Singapore by Com- 

 pere. 



Japan. — In 190.") Craw (13) stated that the melon fly was intro- 

 duced to Hawaii from Japan. Compere reared adults from material 

 collected in melons and cucumbers at Nagasaki according to data on 

 file at the office of the chief quarantine officer of the port of San 

 Francisco. Muir (38), in 1914, records the melon fly as injurious to 

 cucurbits on the Island of Formosa. 



Hawaiian Islands. — The first critical study of the melon fly was 

 made from material collected by Compere (2) in 1898 at Honolulu. 

 At the present time the pest is known to occur on all the important 

 islands of the group. 



SOURCE OF HAWAIIAN INFESTATION. 



The melon fly was without doubt introduced into the Hawaiian 

 Islands from Japan. The interceptions of this pest from Honolulu 

 during the past few years at the port of San Francisco make it easy 

 to understand its introduction at Honolulu from Japan, where the 

 pest is known to occur in vegetables grown about Nagasaki, a port in 

 direct communication with Honolulu and from which many Japanese 

 immigrants arrived in the islands during past years. Alexander 

 Craw, entomologist of the Hawaiian Board of Agriculture and For- 

 estry, wrote (13) in 1905 that the melon fly had been unfortunately 

 introduced at Honolulu a few years previously from Japan. 



That the melon fly was actually introduced is w T ell known to all the 

 older inhabitants of the islands interested in agricultural pursuits. 

 Excellent watermelons and cantaloupes were abundant and cheap in 

 the Honolulu markets, and pumpkins in large quantities were used as 

 food for stock by certain ranchmen. At the present time these fruits 

 are imported from California or grown in restricted areas in the 

 islands with great difficulty. The perfect condition of the calabashes 

 made from gourds by the native Hawaiians is additional proof that 

 the melon fly is an introduced pest. Utensils made of gourds at the 

 present time bear deformities and surface defects peculiar to melon - 

 fly attack. 



EARLY HISTORY IN HAWAII. 



The first authentic account of the presence and ravages of the 

 melon fly in the Hawaiian Islands was given by Mr. Byron O. 

 Clarke, commissioner of the Hawaiian Bureau of Agriculture dur- 

 ing 1898. In October. 1897, soon after his arrival in Honolulu, Mr. 

 Clarke attempted to grow cucurbits in the Kalihi district, but found x 



1 Correspondence, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. Agr., dated Jan. 16, 1916. 



