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DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY 



REPORT OF THE WORK OF THE INSECTARY 



Honolulu, Hawaii, December 31, 1914. 



To tlie Superiutendent of Entomology, 



Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry, 

 Honolulu, T. H. 



Sir: 



I submit herewitb a report on the operations of tlie insectary 

 during the biennial period ending December 31, 1914. Before 

 proceeding to tbe detailed account of the work I wish to refer 

 briefly to the circumstances which led to the establishment of the 

 insectary. You will recall that at the close of 1912 the Board was 

 conducting a campaign against the fruit fly in which dependence 

 for its control in and about Honolulu was placed on the destruc- 

 tion of wormy fruit and the poisoning of adult flies. Although 

 the work was done with great thoroughness and had the sanction 

 both of reason and experience, the results obtained were entirely 

 disappointing, and it was felt that sooner or later it would have 

 to be abandoned. About this time the President and the Execu- 

 tive Ofiicer of the Board, Mr. W. M. Giffard, decided to attempt 

 the introduction of parasites, and while casting about to see 

 what could be done in this way, w^as fortunate enough to get 

 into communication with a man who alreadv had considerable 

 experience with fruit flies and their natural enemies, namely, 

 Prof. Filippo Silvestri of JSTaples, Italy. After considerable 

 correspondence and exchange of views on the subject Prof. Sil- 

 vestri was engaged to make a search for fruit fly parasites in 

 tropical West Africa, this region being selected for exploration 

 first because the bulk of the species of Ceratitis are found there. 

 Prof. Silvestri left JSTaples in July of 1913, visited and investigat- 

 ed practically every colony along the West coast of Africa from 

 Senegal to the Cape, finding evidence of abundant parasitism of 

 fruit flies ; and after seven months in the field came to Honolulu 

 via Australia with living specimens of three larval and two pupal 

 parasites and information iii regard to nine other larval and three 

 other pupal parasites, some of which he attempted to bring with 

 him but lost en route. A full account of Silvestri's travels and 

 observations is found in Entomological Bulletin ]^o. 3 of this 

 Board. It was in preparation for Prof. Silvestri's arrival and to 



