the  time  to  translate  his  paper  and  the  pleasure  now  to  pub- 
lish it,  because  in  the  original  Italian  it  would  have  remained 
a dead  letter  to  most  of  us.  It  remains  for  us  only  to  express 
our  gratitude  to  Dr.  Silvestri  for  the  fairness  with  which  he 
studied  and  reported  on  our  work.  His  paper  contains  be- 
sides a fund  of  valuable  and  absorbing  information,  which 
would1  interest  and  pay  our  readers  to  peruse. 
Our  Melon  Pest. — Both  Dr.  Silvestri  in  the  quoted  paper  as 
also  the  editor  of  The  Planters’  Monthly  as  quoted  below  em- 
phasize the  importance  of  making  a determined  effort  to  intro- 
duce its  enemies.  No  known  artificial  remedy  can  be  depended  on 
for  relief  from  the  pest,  with  the  possible  exception  of  prompt 
burning  of  everything  infested  by  this  fly  uniformly  practiced  on 
these  islands.  The  treatment  the  fly  receives  at  our  hands  now 
is  rather  encouraging  than  otherwise.  Many  people  decide  fi> 
“take  a chance”  and  plant  the  fly’s  favorite  dishes,  which  are 
promptly  attacked  by  the  fly,  abandoned  by  the  erstwhile  enthusi- 
astic grower  and  left  to  breed  and  multiply  and  fill  the  earth  with 
the  fly.  The  pest  is  thus  virtually  propagated  and  released  in  our 
midst  to  continue  the  work  of  destruction.  Unfortunately  this  is 
true  not  only  of  our  amateur  gardeners,  but  also  of  our  profes- 
sionals. In  facts  our  commercial  gardeners,  Orientals  most  of 
them,  are  the  principal  sinners.  In  their  dense,  impenetrable 
ignorance  of  the  laws  of  life  surrounding  them,  by  their  failure 
to  destroy  infested  material,  they  breed  myriads  of  melon  fly 
.even  to  their  own  undoing.  By  their  practice  to  cover  fruit  after 
setting  they  may  raise  a somewhat  larger  percentage  of  fruit,  but 
■they  do  not  diminish  the  flv  nuisance.  Wholesale  destruction  of 
infested  vines  and  fruit  is  bound  to  reduce  the  numbers  of  the 
flv  to  reasonable  limits,  at  least.  But  in  the  absence  of  a com- 
mon language  it  is  virtually  impossible  to  stop  the  practice  of 
neglect  among  these  gardeners.  Laws  are  powerless  to  cope  with 
the  situation  unless  backed  either  by  intelligent  self-interest  or  by 
an  adequate  police  force.  Under  such  circumstances  the  pressing 
need  of  parasites  against  this  fly  become  quite  evident.  That  the 
need  is  pressing  becomes  even  more  clear  when  we  realize  that 
we  lose  about  three-quarters  of  a million  dollars  annually  in 
tribute  to  this  fly  allowing  but  5 cents  per  family  per  day  on  an 
estimated  population  of  170,000,  four  in  the  family.  So  serious  a 
loss  will  justify  adequate  allowance  for  a thorough,  determined 
search  for  melon  fly  enemies  and  import  them  at  the  earliest  pos- 
sible date. 
