254 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I915. 



Presumably the habits of the fly in relation to the bludberry 

 are in general similar to its habits on the apple. There is how- 

 ever one very striking difference. Whereas on the apple the 

 flies are rather sluggish and very tame, so that it is easy to 

 watch oviposition in the field, on the blueberry they are very 

 alert and shy, and the writer has never seen oviposition in the 

 field. The adults suddenly appear on the berries seemingly as if 

 they had just sprung into existence, and are so suspicious that 

 it is no easy task to take them captive, a decided contrast to the 

 larger, less active, and easily taken apple flies. 



The Egg. The writer observed copulation in the laboratory 

 several times in early August, 1914. The male grasped the fe- 

 male with his prothoracic and mesothoracic legs, the metatho- 

 racic trailing unused behind. The female meanwhile wandered 

 nervously and uneasily about. They may remain in copulation 

 at least half an hour but from 15 to 20 minutes seemed to be 

 the usual time. 



The adults are restless in confinement and it is hard to keep 

 them alive. The writer has never succeeded in keeping them 

 much over 3 weeks although they were supplied with food daily 

 and with water many times daily. They refused to oviposit in 

 captivity and I have witnessed the process once only. Then it 

 took place just as has 'been described for the apple maggot. The 

 fly walked over the surface of the berry and finally stopped, 

 head downward. Lifting her abdoimen, she thrust out her ovi- 

 positor and made a slit at an angle of 45 degrees in which she 

 deposited a single egg just below the surface. This occupied 

 a'bout 2 minutes. Unfortunately this egg did not develop. The 

 writer has found eggs in the field half a dozen times, though 

 without knowing when they had been deposited. All of these 

 hatched within 24 hours and the Qgg period in the blueberry 

 probably does hot exceed 2 or 3 days. 



At all events these data are sufficient to show that in the case 

 of the blueberry maggot as with the apple maggot, the tgg is 

 deposited directly in the berry and not in the blossom as is the 

 prevailing idea on the barrens, for the adults do not emerge 

 until fully 6 weeks after the bushes have flowered. 



The Larva. Maggots were fairly common on August 12, 

 1914, including some about a week old, but the writer failed to 

 find any indication of them on July 30. On August 18 and 2^ 



