A Brief History of the Black Fly in Cuba, Its 
Distribution and Latest Developments 
Reginald Hart, Gainesville 
I have selected as the title of the paper 
I am about to read you today, “A Brief 
History of the Black Fly in Cuba—Its 
Distribution and Latest Developments.” 
There can be no question that this subject 
is one of vital importance to all Florida 
fruit growers, since all control measures 
have been abandoned in Cuba, and also on 
account of its proximity. In the Bahamas 
it has completely wiped out the citrus in¬ 
dustry. In Cuba it is gradually spreading 
and will in time doubtless involve the en¬ 
tire island. 
The Black Fly (Aleurocanthus wog- 
lumi Ashby) was first discovered in Cuba 
in August of 1915 in a farm near Guan¬ 
tanamo. Specimens were sent by the 
owner of the property, Sr. Manuel Bert- 
ran, to the Agricultural Experiment Sta¬ 
tion at Santiago de las Vegas and were 
there determined by the entomologist, 
Patricio Cardin. In April, 1916, Mr. 
Cardin and the pathologist of the Experi¬ 
ment Station, Dr. John R. Johnston, were 
engaged in making a survey of the citrus 
groves and plantations of the island for 
citrus canker. While in Guantanamo they 
made observations as to black fly condi¬ 
tions and were able to appreciate the in¬ 
tensity of the infestation and the neces¬ 
sity for taking immediate measures to 
control it. In view of the fact that John¬ 
ston and Cardin found the black fly only 
at Guantanamo and considering the eco¬ 
nomic importance of the insect, since it 
not only attacks the plants of the genus 
citrus, but also the coffee, mango, guava, 
sapota, sapodilla, star apple, pomegranate 
and many other plants, the Honorable 
Secretary of Agriculture, Sr. Emilio 
Nunez, solicited and obtained a credit of 
$10,000. A Presidential Decree, No. 838, 
July 3, 1916, created a Commission of 
Plant Sanitation, with the object that this 
commission should try to combat the 
plague of the black fly until it was com¬ 
pletely extirpated. The commission was 
also to try to prevent in the future intro¬ 
ductions of other pests injurious to agri¬ 
culture and to organize a system of nur¬ 
sery inspection. Under the direction of 
the commission, during the summer and 
fall of 1916, a careful inspection of the 
vicinity of Guantanamo was made. This 
inspection included yards, gardens, farms 
and neighboring towns. In fact, every 
place where there might be citrus was in¬ 
spected in order to determine the extent of 
the infestation. 
Since the black fly had been found only 
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