CIRCULAR No. 349 ._ q -^UN^r$8S 01 AgT^ 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMSNTOF AGRICULTURE 

 WASHINGTONt D.C. 



THE DISPOSAL BY BURIAL OF FRUIT INFESTED 

 WITH LARVAE OF THE MEXICAN FRUIT FLY 



By C. C. Plummer, assistant entomologist, and W. E. Stone, associate ento- 

 mologist, Division of Fruit Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology and Plant 

 Quarantine 



CONTENTS 



Page 

 Introduction 1 



Review of recent experiments in Mexico 1 



Experiment in 1931 2 



Discussion 9 



Page 



Experiment in 1932 10 



Discussion 12 



Packing experiment 13 



Summary 14 



INTRODUCTION 



The disposal of infested fruit and drops constitutes a major problem 

 in a campaign of eradication or control waged against fruit flies. Such 

 fruit is usually buried at specified depths for certain species of fruit 

 flies. In most cases, however, there are few or no data to indicate 

 how these depths were determined. In this circular the writers report 

 the results of experiments carried on to show the depth that fruit 

 infested with larvae of the Mexican fruit fly (Anastrepha ludens Loew) 

 should be buried and how these depths were determined. 1 



REVIEW OF RECENT EXPERIMENTS IN MEXICO 



McPhail and Bliss 2 showed that Anastrepha ludens adults emerged 

 from depths as great as 18 inches when coarse, unpacked soil was used 

 to cover infested fruit. The same writers found that twice as many 

 adults emerged from six different depths (ranging from 1 to 18 inches) 

 in the series of experiments protected from the sun as in a similar 

 series exposed to the sun. Darby and McPhail 3 after conducting an 

 experiment with puparia buried in three grades of soil — fine (x to 

 1 mm), medium (1 to 3 mm), and coarse (3 to 5 mm) — at depths of 4 

 and 6 inches, respectively, recorded that the best emergence was 

 through fine soil when it was dry. However, in another similar 

 experiment, using moistened soil and puparia buried at depths ranging 

 from 4 to 12 inches, they observed that better emergence took place 

 through medium and coarse soil than through fine soil. 



i The experiments were conducted in cooperation with La Oficina Federal para la Defensa Agricola, 

 former office of the Secretaria de Agricultura y Fomento, Alexico. 



2 McPhail, M., and Bliss, C. I. observations on the Mexican fruit fly and some related species 



EN CUERNAVACA, MEXICO, IN 1928 AND 1929. U. S. Dept. Agr. Circ. 255, 24 pp., illus. 1933. 



3 Darby, H. H., and McPhail, M. the effect of burial upon the emergence of anastrepha. 

 1929. (Unpublished report.) 



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