the apple maggot. 171 



the feet are clothed with dark hairs. The abdomen is composed 

 of seven segments, black as to ground color and striped with four 

 white transverse bands. The seventh segment is blunt when the 

 sheath and ovipositor are retracted, but sloping when the sheath 

 is protruded. The ovipositor is brownish, hornlike above, and 

 bears a median groove below which is covered by two flaps, from 

 beneath which the eggs escape. The ovipositor is sharply 

 pointed and somewhat curved at the end. Fig. 30. 



Fly (male). 

 The adult male is smaller than the female, but of the same 

 general color. The abdomen is composed of but five segments 

 and has only three white bands upon it. 



UEE HISTORY. 



The flies, a little smaller than the house-fly and readily dis- 

 tinguished by four dark irregular bands across the wings, are 

 found in the apple orchards from about July first until frost. 

 During this time the females are employed laying eggs, by pierc- 

 ing the skin of the apple with a sting-like ovipositor and leaving 

 at each incision one egg buried in the pulp. Each female is 

 capable of laying at least three or four hundred eggs. 



From the eggs hatch apple maggots which tunnel through the 

 pulp where they feed until full grown. Often their tunnels lie 

 directly beneath the skin of the apple, showing through in the 

 light colored varieties as dark trailing tracks which have won for 

 the apple maggot the popular name of Railroad Worm. (See 

 fig. 28). But, though the maggot frequently comes near the 

 surface of the apple, it never breaks through the skin and is thus 

 always protected, a circumstance which shows clearly that it is of 

 no use to try to destroy this pest by spraying. 



When the eggs are laid, the apples are young and hard and for 

 some time the maggots grow very slowly. At this stage the 

 tunnels are very inconspicuous and the maggots themselves are 

 not likely to be detected except by careful search. As the apple 

 matures, the maggot makes more and more headway and is 

 frequently full grown by the time the apple is ripe. Moreover 

 the presence of the maggots seem to hasten the development of 

 the apples and much of the infested fruit comes to the ground as 

 windfalls. This is the reason so much stress is laid on the 

 destruction of windfalls to get rid of the maggot. 



