BULLETIN OF THE 
I 
No. 134 
Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology, L. Q. Howard, Chief 
October 7, 1914. 
(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 
CITRUS FRUIT INSECTS IN MEDITERRANEAN 
COUNTRIES. 
By H. J. Quayle. 
THE MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT-FLY. 2 
Ceratitis capitata Wied. 
OCCURRENCE. 
In the Mediterranean countries the Mediterranean fruit-fly {Ceratitis 
capitata Wied.) was first recorded from Spain in 1842, from Algeria 
in 1859, from southern Italy in 1870, from Sicily in 1882, from Tunis 
in 1885, from Malta in 1893, from Egypt in 1904, and from France in 
1900. 3 This chronology, however, does not necessarily represent the 
spread of the insect, for it may have occurred in some of the countries 
long before any published record appears. In addition to the coun- 
tries enumerated it is also said to occur in Asiatic Turkey. In the 
Mediterranean vicinity it is recorded from the Azores, Madeira, and 
Cape Verde Islands. The writer has taken this insect at Valencia 
1 This paper is of immediate value on account of the important information it contains bearing on the 
subject of the need of regulating the entry of citrus and other fruits imported from Mediterranean countries to 
prevent the entry of the Mediterranean fruit fly into the United States. The investigations embodied 
in this paper were made by Prof. Quayle during the summer of 1913 as a collaborator of the Federal Horti- 
cultural Board of this Department. Prof. Quayle is an expert on citrus insects and has previously made 
important studies in this field in California in connection with the State experiment station. Advantage 
was taken of the fact that he was proposing to use his sabbatical year to make a world-wide survey of citrus 
insects to commission him to make a much-needed preliminary survey of the citrus and other fruit insects 
in Mediterranean countries, more particularly in relation to the export fruit to the United States. 
The fruit-fly conditions of the principal Mediterranean citrus districts was the important subject; the 
report, however, includes data on other fruit insects which ought to be considered in relation to any pro- 
posed regulation of the entry of fruits from countries covered. 
As Laving an important bearing also on the possibility of the entrance of the fruit fly with Mediterranean 
fruit, the investigation includes a report on harvesting and marketing conditions of citrus fruit, more par- 
ticularly as to methods of picking, sorting, curing, and shipping. 
This paper indicates very clearly that there is little danger of fruit-fly introduction from the lemon, 
which is the main* citrus importation from Mediterranean countries. That there is some danger from 
oranges and certain other fruits at particularly favorable seasons of The year has also been clearly brought 
ou:.— C. L. Marlatt, Chairman Federal Horticultural Board. 
2 Italian, Afosca della arance; Spanish, Mosca. 
3 For these and other facts, including a full bibliography of Ceratitis capitata, see Quaintance, A. L., U. S. 
Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent., Circ.no. 160, 25 p., 1 fig., Oct. 5,1912. 
51981°— Bull. 134—14 1 
