232 MAINE STATE COLLEGE 



Passing by the writings of Loew, Packard and Glover, who record 

 nothing new upon the habits of Trypeta, we come to Prof. Com- 

 stock's Report. The statement that crab apples are infested by 

 Trypeta is not based upon observation. Prof. Comstock writes 

 us he has not observed Trypeta in crab apples. Prof. Riley seems 

 to be the only one who has bred the fly from crabs, and his 

 article recording this fact, (Amer. Agric, July, 1872) seems to 

 have been overlooked by recent writers, their views being founded 

 upon Walsh's statement of probability recorded above. It is to 

 be doubted whether Trypeta occurs throughout the country where 

 haws grow. AVe have not found apple maggots in haws in Maine, 

 nor in Arkansas where the genus Crataegus is represented by a 

 large number of species, nor in Iowa, but abundantly in Northern 

 New York. The conclusions reached by Prof. Comstock, that 

 Trypeta is "-fastidious," and confines its ravages to a few varie- 

 ties of fruit and is "much more apt to infest early apples," are 

 not warranted by our observations. We find it attacks a wide 

 range of varieties early and late, acid, sub-acid and sweet, and 

 affects the early varieties not from fastidiousness but because 

 the early races of flies are most abundant and appear when the 

 early fruit is in proper condition to receive eggs. 



The statement : "We seldom see the Trypeta until about the 

 first of September, and never in green fruit," quoted by Prof. 

 Comstock from a letter written by Mr. Hicks and left unchal- 

 lenged, is incorrect. Prof. Comstock endorsed this view as 

 follows: "According to my observations and all published 

 accounts, the apple maggot does not occur in the apple till the lat- 

 ter part of the summer." 



The eggs are laid in half grown fruit as early as July 1st, and 

 maggots occur in abundance in July before early fruit has com- 

 menced to soften, and pupae commence to be formed by August 

 1st. The statement that "in the autumn when the larvae are full 

 grown, they leave the apple and enter the ground," expresses 

 only a part of the truth. Larvae are transforming from August 

 1st until the middle of October from maggots found in apples in 

 the orchard, but large numbers of young larvae are stored with 

 fruit and enter the pupa state in the bins and barrels, transforming 

 sometimes as late as December, January or even February. The 

 statement that the insect remains in the pupa state during early 

 summer would not apply to the early appearing races of flies found 

 on the wing by July 1 st. 



