THE MELOK FLY IN' HAWAII. J 



in December, 1914, gives the results of careful life-history- studies 

 and contains data on the various stages, accompanied for the first 

 time by temperature records. The data contained in this last paper 

 have been incorporated in the present bulletin. 



While Van Dine has given us the first illustrations of the melon 

 fly, others have been published. Howlett (20), in 1909, published a 

 plate in Maxwell-Lef roy's " Indian Insect Life " containing an 

 especially good figure of the adult female, besides figures of the egg, 

 larva, puparia, and the anterior and posterior spiracles of the 

 puparium. This plate was slightly enlarged and republished as a 

 colored plate by Fletcher (43) in 1914, in " Some South Indian In- 

 sects." Perkins (29), in 1911, published a drawing by W. R. Potter 

 of the adult female which was later used by Severin (45). Compere 

 (33), Dammerman (41), and Bezzi (36) have published photographs 

 of wings of the melon fly. Severin (45) included in his paper the 

 first and only illustrations ever published of the damage to host plants 

 caused by the melon-fly larvse. These photographs were greatly re- 

 duced and much of their detail was lost. The only drawings showing 

 larval details were published by Banks (30) in 1912, and included 

 enlargements of the anterior spiracles, the stigmal plate, and a lateral 

 view of the head. 



ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE. 



The melon fly is the most important pest of varieties of cucurbita- 

 ceous crops grown in the Hawaiian Islands. Its persistent attack 

 has caused many to abandon the growing of its more susceptible 

 host fruits, w T hile others can be grown for the most part only 

 under cover and at increased cost. The Mediterranean fruit fly 

 (Ceratitis cupitata) and the melon fly have ruined the free cul- 

 tivation of fruits and vegetables in the Hawaiian Islands. Of the 

 two pests, many consider the melon fly of the greater economic im- 

 portance, as it attacks with greatest persistency those crops, such as 

 squashes, pumpkins, and the vegetable marrows, which could other- 

 wise be depended upon to furnish an abundant food supply for the 

 poorer classes, and by its presence has ruined any trade with the 

 coast in such vegetables as eggplant, peppers, etc. In 1902 Mr. 

 Jared G. Smith, at that time director of the Hawaiian Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, wrote (9) that the melon fly was doing great 

 damage to cucurbits by stinging and depositing eggs in the young 

 fruit. F. W. Terry (15), in 1906, in a preliminary account of insects 

 of economic importance in Hawaii, wrote, " Since its arrival it has 

 practically stopped the raising of melons, cucumbers, squashes, and 

 tomatoes in many localities, unless these plants are carefully screened 

 from the attack of the fly." Van Dine (11), in 1903, states that 



