THE MELON" PLY IN HAWAII. 5 



that a fly deposited eggs in the young shoots and that the developing 

 larvae killed the vines before they were a foot long. During Decem- 

 ber of the same year Mr. Clarke attempted the cultivation of summer 

 squash, muskmelons, and tomatoes at a point about a mile north 

 of the railroad station at Pearl City. That the pest which caused 

 the destruction of these crops was what has since been called the 

 melon fly was proved by the adults reared by Mr. Clarke during 

 February, 1898. Mr. Clarke states that in 1897 the old gardens 

 about Pearl City were thoroughly infested with the melon fly. 



Correspondence (1) in the files of the present Hawaiian Board 

 of Agriculture and Forestry prove that the melon fly was well es- 

 tablished and doing damage on the island of Hawaii, about 192 

 miles by sea from Honolulu, as early as August, 1898, and that it 

 was known to Prof. Koebele, at that time entomologist of the Ha- 

 waiian Bureau of Agriculture. Mr. George Compere, who visited 

 Honolulu during November, 1898, found the melon fly doing great 

 damage to the truck crops grown by the Orientals in the Moiliili 

 and Waikiki districts of Honolulu and collected the first material 

 that found its way into collections for scientific study. 



To Messrs. Compere and Clarke we are indebted for all exist- 

 ing information regarding the melon fly in the Hawaiian Islands 

 prior to 1900. As Clarke has shoAvn that serious injury was being 

 done cucurbits as early as 1897 at Honolulu a,nd at Laupahoehoe on 

 the island of Hawaii in 1898, it is apparent that the introduction of 

 the pest into the islands occurred at least several years earlier and 

 that the pest was probably established on the other two important 

 , islands, Maui and Kauai, both of which are nearer Honolulu than 

 Hawaii. The rapidity with which the Mediterranean fruit fly 

 {Oeratitis capitata Wied.) has been known to spread since its in- 

 troduction at Honolulu in very recent years leaves little doubt that 

 the melon fly existed in the islands a comparatively short time 

 before its ravages attracted the attention of agricultural officials. 

 Perkins wrote (8) in 1902 that the melon fly was introduced "five 

 or six years ago." It is safe to assume that the melon fly was present 

 about Honolulu as early as 1895. 



LITERATURE. 



The melon fly was first described as a species new to science by 

 Mr. D. W. Coquillett (2) in 1899 from specimens reared by Com- 

 pere in Honolulu and forwarded to Dr. L. O. Howard, entomologist 

 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Mr. Coquillett's article 

 entitled "A new trypetid from Hawaii," published in Entomological 

 News, contained the first information regarding the melon fly ap- 

 pearing in scientific literature. The first printed account (1) of its 



