The Currant Fruit Fly. 229 



fowls relished the berries, hens were called together at their 

 regular feeding time, and a quart of ripe red and white currants 

 and gooseberries were thrown on the ground. The flock of hens 

 tasted the fruit and seemed to prefer the currants but they soon 

 departed leaving some of the currants and most of the goose- 

 berries on the ground. To avoid loss of fruit, fowls could be 

 placed in the berry patch after the crop is harvested and in early 

 spring before the fruit is set. 



Hens were fed on currant fruit fly puparia to determine 

 whether any pupae would survive after having been taken into 

 the digestive canal. A caged hen with an empty crop was offered 

 200 puparia and in 15 minutes she discovered the puparia and 

 swallowed all of those that rested on the surface of the sandy 

 soil. An hour later another 100 puparia were thrown into the 

 cage and in a few minutes she began to feed on these. After 

 the fowl had remained in the cage for two hours, she was dis- 

 sected, and the contents of the alimentary canal were examined. 

 Four puparia were found in the oesophagus, 6 in the stomach, 

 71 in the crop and 8 in the gizzard. Of the total number of 

 puparia found in the oesophagus, stomach and crop, 12 had 

 been injured by the bill. Seven puparia had been found up in 

 the gizzard, but one was intact. 



As none of the puparia had reached the intestine in the 

 previous experiment, 200 currant fruit fly puparia were placed 

 at the rate of 50 at intervals of an hour, into the mouth of a 

 hen with an empty crop. Six hours after the first lot of puparia 

 had been fed to the fowl she was dissected, and it was found 

 that the puparia had been converted into a paste-like substance 

 in the intestine. It is evident that no currant fruit fly puparium 

 can pass through the digestive canal of fowls and issue as flies. 



Late Picking to Avoid Maggoty Fruit. 



One person picked his crop of currants and gooseberries 

 late in the season to avoid maggoty fruit. From time to time 

 currants and gooseberries with egg punctures were picked from 

 his bushes and the last larvae issued on July 30, from the former 

 and July 28, from the latter. During the previous year out 

 records show that the last maggot emerged on July 29. To 

 determine whether any larvae would issue later in other locali- 

 ties of Orono, one pint of currants and three quarts of goose- 



