ACTING STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 
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there is a European species of the same genus ( Trypeta signata, Meigen, otherwise called 
cera-si ,) which infests the cherry, the barberry, and several other fruits. 
The Apple Maggot Fly. (Trypeta pomonella, Walsh.) Head rust-red ; eyes and all the bristles black ; 
front edge of the face and hind orbit of the eye, more or less tinged with white. Thorax, shining black ; 
a humeral fillet, (vitta) and all but the extreme base of the scutel, white; on each side of the thorax, 
above, a .gray fillet, opaque, with short, dense, gray pubescence. Abdomen, black, pubescent, with 
dusky hairs; the tip edge of the four basal segments white above, the white terminal edge of the first 
of these segments with short, white hairs; beneath, except the tip and a more or less distinct medial 
fillet, dull rust-red. Oviduct, short. Legs, pale rust-red; the four hind thighs, except the knees, black; 
the tips of the four hind paws (tarsi), and sometimes the front thighs, tinged with dusky. Wings, 
whitish-glassy, banded with dusky somewhat in the form of the letters IF — the I placed next the 
base of the wing, and its lower end uniting rather indistinctly with the lower end of the F; the base 
and the extreme tip of the wing being always glassy. The anterior end of the I commences on the 
transverse shoulder-vein and extends over the basal two-thirds of the second basal cell, and the whole 
of the third basal cell, beyond which it unites in a faint cloud with the foot of the F. The main leg 
of the F extends nearly in a transverse direction across the middle of the wing, straddling the middle 
transverse vein and the tip of the first longitudinal vein; from which last proceeds the anterior branch 
of the F, skirting, but not quite attaining the costa and the apex of the wing, and terminating on the 
tip of the fourth longitudinal vein. The posterior branch of the F commences opposite to the middle 
transverse vein, straddles the hind transverse vein, and terminates on the tip of the fifth longitudinal 
vein. Length of body, 0.15-0.20 inch; expanse of wings 0.30-0.43 inch. 
Described from six males bred from Eastern apples, July 15th—23rd; two males and one female bred 
from Illinois haws July 23d-28th. I am informed by Mr. Sanborn, of the Boston Society of Natural 
History, that the species is quite commonly taken in Massachusetts, although nobody had hitherto 
recognized it as the Apple Maggot Fly. According to Osten Sacken, “ this species seems to belong 
to the same group of Trypeta as the European signata, living in fruits, and not in the heads of plants 
belonging to the botanical family Compositse, as the majority do.” There are forty-two species of 
Trypeta exclusive of asteris Harris, which Osten Sacken has since proved to be a mere synonym oi 
solidaginis Fitch, described in Loew’s and Osten Sacken’s work on N. A. Diptera ; and from all of these 
it differs essentially, though it comes pretty near to cingulata Loew. After I had satisfied myself upon 
this point, and forwarded a specimen to Baron Osten Sacken, this gentleman was kind enough to inform 
me that, since the publication of the work on iV. A. Diptera, Loew had described in certain foreign 
publications, not accessible to me, several additional N. A. species belonging to this genus. Subse¬ 
quently, at my request, he examined the descriptions of all these additional species, and ascertained that 
not a single species of them agreed specifically with my pomonella. So that now there can be no 
reasonable doubt that the latter has hitherto been undescribed as a North American insect, though 
there is still a possibility that it may prove to be identical with 3ome Trypeta found in the Old World* 
The larva (fig. 2 a) is of a greenish white color, 0.15-0.20 inch long, and about four and one-half 
times as long as wide, cylindrical behind, with the tail-end squarely docked, tapering in fiont from 
the middle of the body to the head. Head pointed, but narrowly excavated (emarginate) in front; its 
inferior surface with two slender, bluntish, coal-black hooks projecting in front, when the mouth is 
protruded, at the base of which there is a smaller pair connected with the base of the others, like the 
antlers on a buck’s horn. At the base of the first segment behind the head, a dorso-lateial, transverse, 
pale-brown, flattish, rough tubercle. Last segment below, with two pale-brown, horny, rough tubercles, 
each composed of three minute thorns longitudinally arranged; and above, with two whitish, retractile 
ones, each pair of tubercles transversely arranged. 
The puparium scarcely differs from the larva, except in being of a pale yellowish-brown color, and 
contracted in length, so as to approximate to an oval form and be only two and one-half instead ol four 
and one-half times as long as wide. 
* Loew has since informed Osten Sacken that “ Tryp. pomonella is a new species, and not identical 
with any European species.” 
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