THE MEDITERRANEAN ERUIT FLY. 5 
at Honolulu plied between countries not infested by this pest. East- 
ern Australia was not infested before 1898. With the development 
of rapid ocean transportation and cold storage on ships, the Medi- 
terranean countries were enabled profitably to export oranges to 
Australia, and it was in these shipments of fruits that the fruit fly 
reached Australian shores and became established about Perth and 
Sydney. 
Establishment in Hawaii at Honolulu followed naturally the com- 
mercial jump of the pest from the Mediterranean countries to Aus- 
tralia. Honolulu is a port of call for ships plying between eastern 
Australian ports and San Francisco and Vancouver, and the voyage 
of about two weeks required for passage from Australia to Honolulu 
is through a tropical climate permitting rapid development of the 
fruit fly. No one ever will know just how the pest reached Honolulu 
on these vessels from Australia, but in view of the rigid inspection 
service of the Hawaiian Board of Agriculture it seems probable that 
larvae falling from infested fruits in the ships' stores — in those days 
often kept on deck — transformed to the winged adult stage by the 
time of arrival at Honolulu. From 7 to 10 years ago trees bearing 
fruits in which the fruit fly could develop grew in greater abundance 
within a stone's throw of the docks than at the present time and 
offered an excellent breeding place for stray adults flying from the 
ships during the time these were in port. There is probably no 
port in the world where conditions were so favorable for the estab- 
lishment of this particular pest as was that of Honolulu 10 years ago. 
LOSSES INCURRED THROUGH THE FRUIT FLY. 
The economic importance of the Mediterranean fruit fly as a pest 
of fruits varies with the climate of its natural abode, or habitat. 
Thus, in France, near Paris, where it has been known to attack 
apricots and peaches, it has not become a serious pest, because of 
climatic checks. Such checks to the severity of its attacks have been 
noted in portions of Australia, South Africa, and elsewhere, and 
would be operative in continental United States except in portions 
of California and the Southern States. On the other hand, in tropical 
and semitropical countries the fruit fly is capable of becoming a pest 
of first importance, and, as in the Hawaiian Islands, may be classed 
as the most important insect pest to horticultural development. 
Practically every fruit crop of value to man is subject to attack by 
this fruit fly. Not only is it of importance as a destroyer of fruit, 
but it is the cause of numerous stringent quarantines which cost 
the State and Federal Governments much money to make effective 
and which rob countries of good or prospective markets for their 
fruit. Fortunately, it has been found that the Chinese banana and 
the pineapple, the two most valuable species of fresh fruits formerly 
