FRUIT-FLIES 
523 
resemble house-flies, but are of more attractive appearance, 
inasmuch as their wings are prettily spotted and banded 
and their bodies are usually more brightly colored. They 
are like house-flies also in that they lay small eggs that hatch 
into whitish maggots. These maggots feed upon the living 
tissues of fruits, nuts, and vegetables. Eggs are laid just 
under the skin of the fruit and these eggs hatch into maggots 
that burrow in all direc¬ 
tions. As the maggots 
tunnel about they cause 
decay to develop and 
these decaying areas pro¬ 
duce greater injury than 
the maggots themselves. 
Increasing imports 
from the countries where 
fruit-flies now abound, 
the extension of trade 
to remote corners of the 
earth, and the growing 
density of population in 
the warmer parts of our 
country, are each year 
increasing the danger 
that fruit-flies may be¬ 
come firmly established 
in this country. In order 
Figure 432.—Adult Male Mediterra¬ 
nean Fruit-fly (greatly enlarged). 
This fly is a cosmopolitan pest. It has 
been known for one hundred years and 
during this time has spread throughout 
the world, North America being the only 
continent on which it has not become 
established. This fly does not harm man 
personally but is one of the most destruc¬ 
tive of the fruit-flies. 
to destroy fruit-flies, the 
Plant Quarantine Act prohibits the entry of all horticultural 
products likely to carry insect pests unless they have been 
rendered free from danger as pest carriers. 
The United States Department of Agriculture has issued 
the following explanation and regulations in connection with 
fruit-flies: The Bermudas probably would not now be in¬ 
fested by the Mediterranean fruit-fly had not a sailing vessel, 
