118 maine state college 



Are All of the Fruits in the Bunches Affected. 



The inflorescence of the currant is racemose and the fruits at the 

 base develop first and are first in condition to receive eggs. In 

 these the earliest laid eggs are placed. The currants at the ends of the 

 bunches were exempt and ripened good fruit after the flies were 

 done ovipositing. 



Where Does the Insect Spend the Winter. 



When the larvae are ready to transform they crawl out of the 

 currants and enter the ground a short distance if it is suitable, or 

 they may transform on the surface under rubbish. They may be 

 found in abundance in the ground under the bushes in the fall. The 

 larval skin is not cast but the larva shortens up becoming a coarctate 

 pupa of a pale yellowish brown color. In this condition the insect 

 spends eleven snonths of the year gradually undergoing changes 

 into the fly which emerges the following season. 



General Description. 



Perfect insect a two-winged fly about the size of a house fly. Pale 

 yellow or orange with greenish iridescent eyes and dark bands across 

 the wings. Found about currant and gooseberry bushes during June 

 in Maine. Stings the currants, depositing an egg under the skin, 

 that hatches and develops into a small white maggot causing the 

 fruit to turn red and drop prematurely. The magg-ots when grown 

 leave the fallen or hanging fruit, enter the ground, change to the 

 pupa state from which the fly emerges the following June. 



Technical Description. 

 Female Fly — Pale clay-yellowish or in darker specimens pale 

 orange. On the border of the front on each side, are three or four 

 long, but rather weak black bristles which curve toward each other. 

 Between the ocelli and the last bristle on the border of the front is 

 a single bristle that curves toward the vertex. On the vertex near 

 the eye two bristles the inner much longer. Antemae darker yellow 

 than the head, third joint rounded at the tip; arista blackish, yellow 

 towards the base, with a very short pubescence. Eostrum and palpi 

 pale yellow, the latter not reaching beyond the anterior edge of the 

 oral opening. Thoracic dorsum with a very thin, whitish bloom, a 

 double middle stripe and a narrow lateral stripe, rather shining and 

 somewhat darker than their surroundings. The posterior end of the 

 thoracic dorsum and the scutellum, shining, very pale yellow; a not 

 very broad yellowish stripe runs from the humeral corner to the root 

 of the wings. The scutellum convex and not very large; bristles on 

 the scutellum four. The bristles of the thorax and of the scutellum, 



