98 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
away we are going to get mad. In Cali¬ 
fornia, where the ant is established, great 
damage is caused by its habit of protect¬ 
ing soft scales and aphids. Near Los 
Angeles, the mealy bugs have greatly in¬ 
creased since the advent of the ant. You 
will be interested to know that recently 
the assistant quarantine inspector at Pen¬ 
sacola intercepted a shipment of lettuce 
from New Orleans, infested with this 
pest. The lettuce was, of course, de¬ 
stroyed. 
The camphor scale was smuggled into 
New Orleans by one of a ship’s crew in 
1919 or 20. It became established in one 
commercial nursery and from there scat¬ 
tered throughout the town. Sprays do 
not seem to check the insect, and as a re¬ 
sult most of the host plants have been cut 
back. While camphor is the favorite host, 
there are about one hundred other plants 
subject to attack. Citrus, pecans and oaks 
are in this list. If this scale ever obtains 
a foot-hold in Florida, it may be impossi¬ 
ble to control it. Particularly is this true, 
if it becomes established in the huge oaks 
in the hammocks. The same inspector 
who made the interception of the Argen¬ 
tine ant at Pensacola, intercepted a ship¬ 
ment of plant material from New Orleans 
to the Reasoner Brothers’ Nursery at 
Oneco. The material was heavily infested 
with the camphor scale. This interception 
stands out as one of the most important 
in the records of the State Plant Board. 
Of particular interest to the citrus 
growers are the fruit flies, which by some 
miracle, have not become established in 
Florida. The papaya fruit fly is the one 
exception; this fly is at present at work on 
the papayas on the lower East coast. The 
damage is done by the larvae, or maggots, 
which hatch out from the eggs deposited 
by the female in the fruit. After emerg¬ 
ing from the egg, the maggots tunnel 
throughout the flesh of the fruit, render¬ 
ing it worthless. Right at our doors is 
the West Indian Fruit Fly. This pest is 
established in Cuba, Porto Rico, Central 
and South America. In Cuba, mangoes 
are the favorite hosts, although guavas 
and plums are also attacked. In the Ar¬ 
gentine Republic peaches are also included 
in the list of hosts. Citrus is not known 
to be infested in Cuba, but in South Amer¬ 
ica the fly takes to the citrus after the 
more favorite fruits are gone, and causes 
great losses to the citrus growers. Citrus 
seems to withstand the attacks of this pest 
better than the other fruits. It may be 
explained by the fact that the oil cells in 
the rind are punctured when the female 
lays the eggs, and the oil kills some of 
them. Many may hatch out, but starve to 
death before they can work their way 
through the thick rind to the flesh of the 
fruits. Even though no damage is caused 
by the maggots, the puncture in the rind 
leaves an opening for many fungi to be¬ 
come established and cause great losses to 
the fruit grower. The Plant Board 
passed a rule prohibiting the importation 
of guavas, plums, mangoes and Surinam 
cherry from Cuba. This immediately 
raised a storm of protest from the Cuban 
authorities, business men and fruit grow¬ 
ers, who carried the fight to the State 
Department at Washington. Their con¬ 
tention was that while the mango was a 
host, the “manga,” known in this State 
