THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
395 
characteristic, lack-a-daisicai manner, until proxi- 
mity betokens danger : then off it goes, and off 
again, cunningly tantalising, returning at times to 
very spot from whence it started, and renewing 
its crab-like sideways gait along the leaves. I 
know of no native fruit which has been found to 
be infected by this pretty pest, but it is a very old 
inhabitant of South Africa, and if not a native, 
must have been introduced by 'sailing vessels from 
some adjacent island (such as St. Helena) or other 
country. I knew it thirteen years ago in Cape 
Colony, when it had became a regular scourge of 
the Uitenhage fruit trees. The Right Rev,. Bishop 
Ricards informed me that he remembered the 
maggot doing damage to fruit over forty years 
ago. I have been told that Ceratitis affects Kei 
apples in the wild state, but X am inclined to think 
without ocular evidence that a closely assimilating 
larva has been mistaken for it, hereafter referred 
to. I found the larva On pears and apples just be- 
fore they dropped, but as a rule they scavenge 
fallen fruit. Prof. Mac Ovvan illustrates the habi- 
tats of C. ca/htata 1 Vied. — most likely our identi- 
cal fly— as as being Bermuda, East Indies, and 
Azores. We hear of it from Madagascar, Mauri- 
tius, Cape de Verde islands, Madeira, St. Helena, 
and nearly the whole of southern Europe. It is 
not yet recorded from the United States. A com- 
mercial traveller, on returning to his firm from a 
journey was speedily informed that one of his 
client’s estate was in process of liquidation. ‘Well!’ 
said he, “Messrs. So-and-so are in for three times 
as much as we are!” “That’s all right! returned 
his employer, “but it does ’nt pay our debt i” And 
thus, although we are assured other countries are 
in the same bight as ourselves and suffer disaster 
it does not make our troubles one whit more endu- 
rable. Certain does it appear to me that Ceratitis 
has been introduced through one of our Eastern 
seaports and has gradually spread through the 
midlands, southwards and westwards. I had in- 
tended drawing up a map to show its distribution 
but this is impossible, for with very few exceptions 
more or less frequent one year or another, I would 
undertake to find the pest in almost every Colonial 
town. Selecting a few towns from the Eastern Bor- 
der districts we might roughly calculate according 
to information gathered from citizens and covering 
a space of five years that the following comprise a 
fair estimate of comparative attack, ranked in order 
of degree: — King William’s Town, Uitenhage, 
Graham’s Towns, Queen’s Town, Graaff' Reinet, 
very variable, Cradock, Colesburg. 
This present season, through climatic causes, 
biting winds and changes to severe frosts, has been 
decidely unfavourable for Ceratitis in early fruits. 
Queen’s Town appears to have had none at all up 
to the time I visited it in January, but on writing 
to Mr. F.H. Jones, that gentleman gave a sad re- 
I cord of its effect on later fruits. In Uitenhage I 
observed the ily working on apricots in the Rev 
Father O’Brien’s garden last December. And in the 
month of October oranges in the Cradock districts 
were affected locally. In January, Aliwal North 
seemed very free from maggot. By the way this 
place struck me as being largely adapted for pro- 
ducing quantities of certain kinds of fruit. With 
others, much would depend on the quality and 
! nature of the water supply. 
I find that orchards in damp situations are most 
liable to attack, and that gardens on gravel ground 
are most free. The former lend assistance to pupae 
in hatching, and provide excellent quarters for 
metamorphosis. The latter deter. Delicate, sen- 
sitive grubs, such as Ceratitis , cannot endure hot 
grit, and when they drop from the trees indepen- 
dently of, or together with the fruit, many must 
necessarily perish. Dr. Hansell (Riversdale) re- 
marks: “The grubs are worst where the trees 
are not easily watered. Where the water is more 
available, the maggot is not so destructive.” This 
is the only exception I have received to the rule 
laid down, but water-troughs and tree-rings cannot 
do much harm, for I dispute any preference shown 
by the maggots for the roots of trees, and I doubt 
the power of their instinct to impel them root- 
wards in the selection of locality. I dare not 
compare town with town, or district with district 
too minutely but should put Uitenhage hi the 
front rank of infection, thus: — 
1. It is naturally adapted for Ceratitis propa- 
gation. 
2. I lived there, studied there, and found it 
badly infected. 
3. It is on the line of a great fruit-growing in- 
dustry. 
