104 PLANT QUARANTINE AND CONTROL ADMINISTRATION [April-June, 
ALL INFESTED FRUIT TO BE DESTROYED 
All fruit found to be infested, whether in homes or in the hands of distributors 
or in storage, should be destroyed and by that is meant the entire lot of fruit 
with no effort at selection. The infestation, unless it has gone so far as to 
soften the fruit or cause its decay, can not necessarily be determined by ex- 
terior inspection. Fruit containing many maggots of nearly full-grown stage 
will often give no visible indication of infestation nor can such infestation 
necessarily be determined by feeling or handling. Therefore, the entire stock 
determined as infested through the finding of especially advanced examples 
should be destroyed, in carload lots or larger amounts if necessary. 
For the destruction or sterilization of small supplies in households, any 
method of heating or cooking, or burning in the furnace, will answer. To 
shorten the time the fruit should be quartered or sliced and brought to the 
boiling point in any appropriate vessel. Similarly, baking in an oven, if con- 
tinued long enough to have the heat penetrate to the center of the fruit, will do 
the work. It can not be too strongly emphasized, however, that no bad fruit 
should be discarded or thrown out or fed to animals. To throw out fruit or 
garbage of this sort would be furnishing the fly with the very best facilities for 
completing its development. In short, cook or otherwise sterilize all infested 
fruit, reserving only a few maggots for identification. These can be killed in 
hot water or immediately immersed in 50 per cent alcohol and mailed for de- 
termination in a small, carefully packed, stoppered bottle to prevent its being 
broken, to the proper identifying officer of your State or district. 
Probably the simplest method of effectively destroying and safeguarding in- 
fested fruit in bulk is to bury it in deep pits so that when partially filled with 
fruit at least 3 feet of earth can be placed on top and tamped and wetted down. 
Prior to replacing the earth, however, the fruit and pit should be heavily sprayed 
with fuel oil or motor oil — the discarded oil from garages will serve the purpose 
very well — or a covering of several inches of quicklime should be placed over 
the top of the mass, the filling up with soil and wetting down to follow. 
Where considerable quantities of fruit are involved or where it is not 
practicable to destroy it at once by simple methods and with the owner's con- 
sent, the proper State quarantine officer should be promptly notified of the situa- 
tion by telegraph, so that the destruction of the fruit can be effected, if neces- 
sary, under State police powers. Samples of the infested fruit should be taken 
under the precautions indicated above for mailing, and the owner should be 
advised not to move or disturb the fruit pending action by the State quarantine 
officer. 
ATTACKS MOST FRUITS AND CERTAIN VEGETABLES 
It may be noted that the Mediterranean fruit fly attacks practically all 
fruits except pineapple and watermelon that are grown in the United States 
and such garden vegetables as ripe tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants, and beans_ 
WORMY FRUIT NOT POISONOUS IF EATEN 
All consumers of grapefruit or oranges should be assured that there is noth- 
ing poisonous to human beings in the presence of this fly. Naturally, badly 
decayed or rotted fruit would be inedible, but when the larvae are small or the 
infestation is just beginning, this condition can only be discovered with diffi- 
culty. There is no reason why fruit should not be eaten freely. As halved and 
ordinarily prepared for the table, the fact of infestation should be discovered, 
and the same is true if the fruit is halved as a means of expressing juice. 
The attached statement, with figures, has been prepared by specialists of the 
Bureau of Entomology, to aid in separating the Mediterranean fruit fly larvae 
from other fly larvae that may be found in fruits and vegetables. This informa- 
tion is more for the use of trained entomologists, and all other persons should 
transmit material, as instructed above, to the State entomologist or the local 
officer of the State designated by him. The figures also indicate the adult fly 
and puparium. 
C. L. Marlatt, 
Chief of Administration. 
