2 BULLETIN 536, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



culture, under the immediate supervision of Mr. Charles L. Marlatt, 

 assistant chief of the bureau and chief of the Division of Tropical and 

 Subtropical Fruit-Insect Investigations. This work was undertaken 

 during September, 1912, primarily to make available for mainland 

 fruit-growing interests information that will prove of inestimable 

 value in determining the extent of the possible distribution of this 

 pest and the factors of control which will be most important in eradi- 

 cating newly discovered outbreaks. 



The senior writer wishes to acknowledge his obligations to Mr. 

 Marlatt, who has greatly aided these investigations by his direction, 

 and to express his appreciation of the assistance rendered by his 

 associates, Messrs. C. E. Pemberton and H. F. Willard. 



Fig. 1.— The Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitiscapitata): a, Adult female; &,head of same from front; c,spatula- 

 like hair from face of male; d, antenna; e, larva; /, anal segment of same; g, head of same, a and e, 

 Enlarged; b, g,f, greatly enlarged; c, d, still more greatly enlarged. (Howard.) 



COMMON NAMES. 



The common name " Mediterranean fruit fly" was first used by 

 Frogatt hi 1899 to distinguish Ceratitiscapitata from other fruit flies 

 found in Australia. At the present time this name is the most widely 

 used and most satisfactory of the common names by which this pest 

 has been known and will be used by the writers. Other common names 

 found in literature are "the fruit fly," "the maggot/' "peach fly," 

 "peach maggot," "fruit grub," "apricot worm," "trypeta fly," 

 "West Australian fruit fly," "orange fly," and "orange fly trypeta." 



ORIGIN. 



Although Wiedemann first described Oeratitis capitata from speci- 

 mens collected by Daldorf, supposedly in the East Indies, the failure of 

 subsequent entomological exploration in the Indo-Malayan region to 



