8 
BULLETIN" 640, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
egg cavity as the result of repeated egg laying by many females 
through, the same opening in the skin. 
The larvae. — The eggs hatch into whitish larvae, or maggots, that 
burrow or tunnel in all directions through the pulp, feeding as they 
go and causing decays to start. 
When first hatched they are very 
difficult to detect, but when full 
grown they are very white and, 
although only four-sixteenths to 
five-sixteenths of an inch long, 
are quite easily seen. Full-grown 
maggots have the peculiar habit, if 
taken out of the fruit and placed 
upon a smooth surface, of curling 
up and jumping from 1 to 6 inches. 
For the general appearance of 
the larva? see figures 8 and 9, a. 
The pupx. — After leaving the 
fruit upon which they have fed, 
the larvse either burrow into the 
soil to depths varying up to 2 
inches or seek shelter under any object upon the ground and there 
transform to the pupa or chrysalis stage. During this stage the 
insect is not able to move and re- 
sembles the seedlike object illustrated 
in figure 9, o. Although outwardly 
appearing quite dead, inwardly the 
wonderful changes are taking place 
by means of which nature transforms 
the ugly maggot into the beautiful fly; 
and in the course of a few days the 
adult fly breaks forth from the pupa, 
pushes her way up through the soil, 
and, as the mother of a second gen- 
eration, flies back to the tree and 
searches for fruits in which to lay her 
eggs. 
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE ADULT FLY. 
Fig. 7.— Cross section of peach showing general 
shriveling of walls of egg cavity and separation 
of eggs. Drawing made one and one-half days 
after eggs were laid. (Authors' illustration.) 
Incapable of inflicting bodily injury 
on man, the adult fly is, nevertheless, 
the fruit growers' most persistent 
enemy in Hawaii, for she is contin- 
uously searching for fruits in which 
to lay her eggs. Adults die within three to four days if they have 
Fig.8.— Small mango fruit cut to show white 
larvse or maggots of Mediterranean fruit 
fly and damage they have caused. 
(Severin.) 
