80 



ously examining the trunks and laTger limbs of the fruit trees, and he 

 also found great numbers of them around sheds where he stored his 

 winter apples and pears. As the result of several hours search Mr. 

 Martin found only one worm, and this one escaped only by an accident, 

 for several had been taken within a quarter of an inch of it, but, as Mr. 

 Martin writes, '' Luckily he only escaped ' Charybdis to fall into Scylla,' 

 for I incontinently pulverized him.'' 



ADDITIONAL NOTE ON CERATITIS CAPITATA, 



In our brief review of the literature of this interesting insect in our 

 article in the last number, entitled "A Peach Pest in Bermuda," we 

 neglected to mention a most important article which is contained in 

 Dr. O Penzig's '' Studi Botauici Sugli Agrumi e SuUe Piante Affini," 

 published in the ^'Annali di Agricoltura" for 1887. Dr. Penzig reviews 

 the general subject of Dipterous insects on the Orange and gives an 

 account of the literature of the three species of Ceratitis, viz, C. capi- 

 tata, C. catoireij and C. hispanica, all of which he treats under the 

 generic name of Halterophora^ proposed by Rondani on account of the 

 preoccupation of Ceratitis in Ammonites. 



C, catoirei comes from the island of Bourbon and from Mauritius ; 

 C. capitata from the East Indies and the Azores Islands, while C. 

 Mspanica is found in the Mediterranean region and differs from the 

 other two, which Doctor Penzig thinks may be synonyms, by the posses- 

 sion of two frontal tubercles. He gives a good account of the different 

 stages of the latter species and also an account of its life history from 

 which it appears that the perfect insect is possessed of extraordinary 

 vivacity and lives by sucking the sweets of diff'erent fruits, oranges, 

 peaches and figs, which the fly is not able to pierce with its mouth 

 parts, but only sucks when they are injured from other causes. 



The female penetrates the skin of a half-grown orange and lays her 

 eggs at a depth of from one to three millimeters. In a few days the 

 larvae hatch and burrow through the skin and into the pulp of the fruit, 

 rendering injured fruit readily recognizable by a brown or olive spot 

 which soon extends to from three to five centimeters in diameter. The 

 original puncture is always noticeable and the larva returns to it 

 frequently for air, placing its anal spiracles against the opening. The 

 orange soon falls to the ground and in the space of fifteen days, more 

 or less, the larvae issue, either through the original opening, or through 

 another one made for the purpose, and enter the ground, where they 

 transform to pupae, remaining in this condition only a few days. There 

 are presumably a number of annual generations. The orange is pre- 

 ferred for food, but lemons and other cultivated citrus fruits are also 

 attacked, as well as peaches, tigs, azaroles, etc. The species seems to 

 be limited to the countries around the Mediterranean. Found origi- 

 nally in Spain, it was soon discovered to do great damage in Algeria. 

 In Sicily it was first confined to oranges but later attacked peaches 



