216 Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1917. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



To determme whether a parasite checks somewhat the 

 multiplication of the pest, 500 puparia were picked from soil 

 under several currant bushes on May 1-2, and were placed in 

 breeding jars under laboratory conditions, but not a single para- 

 site emerged. An examination of nearly 2000 puparia gathered 

 in the spring, showed that some of these were seemingly attacked 

 by some predaceous enemy. As already stated, six small white 

 oval eggs, apparently of a Hymenopterous parasite, were found 

 in the respiratory hole of the fruit fly larva in a Chautauqua 

 gooseberry. 



Spiders. 



A number of different species of spiders prey upon the 

 adults (Fig. 16, C). On June 9, 1914, when the fruit flies were 

 noticed especially abundant in shady localities, the remains of 

 four specimens were found in a web on an apple tree and the 

 spider was devouring a fifth fly. A trypetid was also found in 

 a spider's web which was spun on a currant leaf. 



Toads. 



In a commercial currant and gooseberry patch, numerous 

 toads were observed partly buried in the ground during the 

 daytime. It is a well known fact that toads feed principally at 

 night, but they sometimes emerge from their shelter before 

 sundown or after a shower. To determine whether the currant 

 fruit fly is snapped up by toads, it was decided to examine the 

 contents of the alimentary canal of several toads. Accordingly, 

 three toads were captured under gooseberry bushes late in the 

 afternoon on June 19, and two were taken during the morning 

 of June 23, 1914. A single female specimen of Epochra cana- 

 densis was found in the stomach of one toad captured on June 

 23. The adult sawfly of the imported currant worm (Pteronus 

 ribesii Scop.) which often strips the foliage of currant and goose- 

 , berry bushes, was also found in the digestive canal of a toad. 

 A gooseberry was found in the stomach of one of the toads. 



As the toads were collected after the period of emergence 

 of the adults in 1914, it was decided to again examine the con- 



