j

NEW SOUTH WALES.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

REPORT

ON

'ARASITIC AND INJURIOUS INSECTS.

BY

<

WALTER W. FROGGATT,

ENTOMOLOGIST.

1907-1908.

§ 39557 a

SYDNEY I W. A. GULLICK, GOVERNMENT PRINTER.

19O9.

To T2.

1

Entomological Branch,

Department of Agriculture,

9th March, 1909.

To the Hon. John Perry,

Minister for Agriculture.

Sir,

I have the honor to herewith furnish this report upon
my investigations into entomological questions, carried out with
the permission of the Government of New South Wales for the
Governments of Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland, as well
as this State, between the 7th July, 1907, and the 3oth July, 1908.

Furnished with credentials from the Australian States I repre-
sented, I was enabled to see the inner working of the Departments
of Agriculture, Scientific Institutions, &c., visited in the different
countries.

In every country I met with unfailing kindness and courtesy
from Government officials, scientific workers, British consuls, and
many strangers.

Everywhere I was complimented upon the enterprise shown by
the Australian States in sending out a commission of investigation
to obtain, first hand, information upon questions of such vital
importance to the producers of Australia.

I have the honor to be,

Sir,

Your obedient Servant,
WALTER W. FROGGATT,

Government Entomologist, N.S.W.

INDEX.

Agricultural College, Budapest

Texas

Madrid

Wye

University of California
Departments of India ...
,, France..

, , Hungary

Italy ...
, , United

ites, Washington

Agricultural Department of Cyprus...
Agriculture —

Board of

Imperial Conference, W.I

S i ) jl of, Cairo

Experiment Station, Cuba

iiell University, US

1 Villas Experiment Station

Commission of Parasi tologia

Sugar Planters' Association, Hawaii
I'.S. Experiment Station, Hawaii

( 'ommissioners of, Hawaii

Horticultural Commissioners, Cali-
fornia

K \-periment Station, Baton Rouge

<iyp«y Moth Commission

Khedivial Society, Giza

•ries visited —

Austria

Barbidos

iifornia'

Ceylon

Cuba

Cyprus

Eistern States, U.S.A.
England

Egypt

France

Hungary

India

Italy

Jamaica

Mexico

Panama ..

Smyrna

Turkey .......

W Australia.

PAGE.
43
20
38
33
11
54
37
44
40

H
47

36
31

52

28

17

20

21

2

2

4

5
19

51

42
31
5
53
26
47
11
33
51
37
43
53
40
28
21
31
47
38
15
57

Fruit 1

Dacu* in Hawaii 2, 84

India 54

Description of species 79, 115

plates 116

List of Walker's species 97

,, other species 98

Methods used in Bermuda 102

Mexico, Tn/fv-fn ///'A-H* 22, 112

Olive fly, Italy 41, 89

§39557 b

Fruit Flies — continued.

Parasites, Bangalore, Italy 54

„ W. Australia 56

Museums —

British Museum, Natural History 33

Colombo Museum, Ceylon 56

Cambridge University Museum .... 35

(iundlach, Dr., Collection, Havana 28
Imperial Research Laboratories,

Pusa 54

Indian Museum, Calcutta 54

Jardin de P antes 37

K. K. Hofmuseuni Xat., Wien. .. 42
Liverpool Tropical School of Medi-
cine 34

London Tropical School of Medicine 35

Museo Hi Ciencia Naturales, Madrid 38

,, Civico di Storia, Genoa 41

National Museum, U.S., Washing-
ton 13

Peradenyia, Entomological Collec-
tions ... 55

Royal Museum of Hungary 43

Tring Museum 35

Wellcome Research Laboratories,

Egypt .. 52

Verrell's Collection (Diptera) 36

Parasites—

The question of parasites 58, 72

Codling moth parasites 5

Cook, A. J., Opinions stated in

California 72

Fletcher, Dr. J., Evidence given ... 70

Louosbury, C. P. , Value of parasites 65
Max well- Lefroy, H., Little use in

India 70

Pease, S. A., Report in California.. 71

Smith, J. B., Notes on Parasites 71

Pests, Insects —

Ants, introduced 19

,, leaf-cutting 25

Cane-leaf hopper 3

Codling moth 5,6,39

Cotton boll weevil 18

Cotton pests 29,31,51

Fig insects 10

Horn fly 3

Mango leaf hopper 55

Meal\r bug 2

Orange weevil, Cuba 26

Plague locusts 44,47

Plum curculis 13

Red scale 49,51, 52

Round scale 30, 52

Shot-hole borer 55

Sugar beet pest 39

Ticks 19,53

Wiiite louse 32

White fly 8

Woolly aphis 9, 33

Yellow fever mosquito g

PARASITIC AND INJURIOUS INSECTS.

Report of Walter W. Froggatt, Entomologist to the
Department of Agriculture of the State of New South
AVales, and Investigating Entomologist for the States of
Victoria, South Australia, and Queensland, during his study
of Parasitic and Injurious Insects in various parts of the
world in 1907-1908.

PART I.
General Report.

(1) The commercial value of introduced Parasites to deal with insects

that are pests.

(2) The range and spread of Fruit-flies and the methods adopted in

other countries to check them.

(3) The value of Parasites in exterminating Fruit-flies.

(4) Habits of cosmopolitan Insect Pests.

A (.'ONFEUEXCE of Government Entomologists was held in Sydney on the 9th
of July, 1906, at which the question of parasites as effective checks to
injurious insects was considered, and an offer made by the Commissioner of
the State Board of Horticulture of California to several of the Australian
States, to supply them each with a goodly collection of the parasite of
Codling Moth for the sum of £1,000. -

A motion was put on the " expediency of personal inquiry as regards
parasites in California, which was followed by another, "That this
Conference, having taken into consideration the importance attaching to the
proposed undertaking contemplated in the preceding motion, is of opinion
that th«- Government Entomologist of New South Wales, possessing the
special high attainments needed for the inquiry, be delegated to prosf cute the
sain*-."

Nothing further was done in the matter until June, 1907, when, at the
('i.nference of State Premiers, held in Brisbane, the Acting Premier of
Victoria, Mr. Swinburne, tabled a motion, u That, in consequence of the in-
crease of Fruit-fly and other pest?, with the permission of Xew South
Wales, their Entomologist be despatched to America and Europe to inquire
into the best methods of dealing with Fruit-flies and other pests ; the value

of parasites; to procure and despatch same if effective." The representatives
of Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales agreed to this, and
that the expenses should be shared by the four States.

The scope of the investigations was considerably enlarged before I started.
Queensland suggested that I should visit India and Ceylon, in order to see
the species of fruit-flies allied to thit known as the Queensland Fruit-fly ;
and my instructions were to go to those places where pests could be best
studied, and information obtained on entomological subjects. Furnished with
credentials from each of the four States represented, I left Sydney on 8th
July for San Francisco, via Hawaii.

Honolulu was reached on the 14th of July, where I remained for three
\veeks. During that time I placed myself, first, in the hands of the Federal
Department of Agriculture ; Mr. Jared Smith is Director, and Mr. Van Dine,
Entomologist ; and most of my official work was done at the Experiment
Station, with the assistance of these gentlemen.

Besides the United Stites Department of Agriculture, there are at
Honolulu two other institutions at which entomological work is carried out —
the experiment station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, where,
under the director, Mr. R. C. L. Perkins, there are six other entomologists in
the Entomological Division. The staff carry out investigations in the control
of the pests of sugar-cane, and, therefore, do not pay any attention to fruit-flies
or orchard pests. Messrs. Perkins and Kirkaldy have been for some time
describing new species of all kinds of insects, which in many cases have
little to do with economic entomology or pests of sugar-cane, though they
form a fine set of monographs of the inseots dealt with, obtained by their
collectors.

It is under the direction of this Experiment Station that some daring
experiments have been made in economic entomology. Among these may
be instanced the introduction of foreign pest insects to destroy introduced
injurious vegetation. Much of the waste land of the Hawaiian Islands, denuded
of its indigenous forest flora at a very early date, is now overrun with a
low scrub of lantana, guava, and a prickly acacia. The planters claimed
that it was too expensive to clear these lands of lantana, and Mr. Koebele
spent a season in Mexico, collecting any insects breeding in or upon lantana.
He sent over several microlepidoptera and small butterflies, whose caterpillars
feed upon the flowers, foliage, and seeds ; a gall-making fly (Entreta sparsa,
Wied.) ; a leaf -mining fly (Litho-colletis, sp.) ; a defoliating leaf bug (Teleo-
nemia scrupulosa), and moth and beetle larvse to devour the roots of the
unfortunate plant. It was claimed that within about two years the lantana
had not only been checked by the destruction of its seeds, but that it was
dying out in large areas all over the islands. I examined a great deal of
this scrub on the slopes of Mount Tantilu*, and other places on which these
pests had been liberated, and though the seeds were not so plentiful as upon
the other side of the island, none of the plants were dead. However, upon
the poorer land some plants had lost a good many leaves through the action
of the plant bugs.

The Mealy Bug pest (Orthesia insignia), one of the most injurious pests to
the tea plant in Ceylon, was accidentally introduced into the island of Maui,
and is commonly known as the " Maui blight." It is the most destructive
insect to the lan'ana. Though accidentally introduced originally, it has
been purposely scattered over the islands by the planters, and may some day
become a very serious pest to cultivated plants. Whatever may be said in
favour of introducing insect parasites to destroy injurious insects, nothing,

even if successful, can be said in favour of knowingly introducing plant-
eating insects and their larvje, for no one can tell what such insects may do
when their own food-plant is finished.

This Association has sent officers' all over the world to collect and send
back parasites of all kinds, and according to the reports that have been
furnished to the public, there should now be no scale insects or other pests
in the Hawaiian Islands. Yet I found as many scale-insects upon their
cultivated plants as would be found in Australia, and also many cosmopolitan
pests, such as Fuller's rose beetle (Aramigus ful/eri). This is a small weevil
from the United States, where it is the greatest garden pest that rose-growers
have to deal with ; it also defoliates many other plants. Then there is the
" Japanese Leaf-beetle " (Adoretus umbrosus), a small lamellicorn that is
very destructive to all kinds of foliage. They also have the Melon Fly (Dacus
cucurbitee), introduced from India, which destroys melons ; it will be noted
further on in this report. The Yellow Fever Mosquito (Stegomyiafasciata) is
another introduced pest ; while they have also one of the worst of blood-
sucking flies in the "Horn Fly,'' so called because Professor Kiley, in one of
his reports, figured them clustering round the base of a bullock's horn, a
place, by-the-way, where they are seldom found ; but they swarm over the sides
and flanks of the unfortunate cattle, and give them no rest, and are just as
numerous in the dairy as in the paddock. On the island of Molokai they
not only worried the cattle, but settled upon the open sores on the sheep
that were infested with scab, and prevented these healing.

In fact, it would be as difficult to enumerate all the pests that have been
accidentally introduced from abroad as it would be to list the purposely
introduced more or less useful insects that now form the bulk of the insect
fauna of the islands. Even most of the birds commonly met with are
introduced, and mostly pests; such as the Rice Bird (Munia ritoria, var.
punctata], and the Indian minah (Acridotheres tristis).

There is an introduced rat that damages the sugar-cane, and the mongoose
was introduced from India to destroy it ; but the mongoose has, contrary to
expectations, destroyed most of the ground-nesting fauna on the islands
except rats, and no one now can keep poultry in the immediate vicinity
of Honolulu except in closely-netted yards.

Last year, the Sugar Planters' Association sent Mr. Muir out to India
and the Malay States looking for a parasite for the cane weevil (Sphenoporus
obscurus), introduced from Tahiti in banana stems over forty years ago.
Professor Koebele was in Mexico looking for parasites of the cane-hoppers.

One of the greatest successes of the Association was the introduction of
a parasitic wasp that destroys the eggs of the very destructive cane-leaf hopper
(Perkinsella saccharic ida). This hopper was introduced into their cane-fields
about 1902, and caused an immense amount of harm, by depositing its eggs
in. the midrib of the leaves and sucking the sap out of the stems, causing
injuries that produced a great deal of smut upon the surface. This caused a
great loss where the fields were badly infested ; and Professors Koebele and
Perkins came over to Queensland in 1904, and spent some months collecting
parasites in the northern cane-fields, from whence the hopper had probably
been brought. Koebele sent back quantities of several species, one of which
became established in the experimental cane growing round their laboratories,
and from there was scattered all over the island. When I was there last year
(1907) there were plenty of hoppers in the different fields we visited ; but
there were also many eggs in the midrib of the leaves, some with parasites
and just as many uninfested. So rapid, however, was the spread of this egg
parasite over the islands in about two years, that one would almost think

4

the parasite had been accidentally introduced with the cane-hoppers in the
first instance, and had only made its appearance evident after the artificial
introduction. This, however, would not lessen the credit that attaches to
Koebele's work.

Another thing they do not take into account is, that when the leaf-hopper
damage became acute, the methods of cultivating the cane were altered in
many places ; the refuse (probably containing many eggs and larvae) was burnt
instead of being buried, and new varieties of cane, with more resistant powers
to the attacks of the leaf-hoppers, were grown in the infested fields.

Before we finish with this insect problem, I would point out that these
leaf-hoppers must still exist in considerable numbers ; so much so, that when
the Pure Foods Act came into operation in the United States, just before
I arrived at the islands, it was stated that some of the Hawaiian honey was
not up to the standard demanded by the chemists. This was a very serious
matter to the ranchmen, for nearly all of them ran apiaries on their
estates, particularly the American Sugar Company, who have an estate of
95,000 acres on the island of Molokai, where they have som<3 thousands of
hives. The chief flowers from which the honey is obtained are those of the
algeroba tree, which form great thickets all round the coasts and in the
valleys between the mountains. '\ his tree (Prosopis juliflora\ said to have
been introduced from Mexico, is identical, or closely allied to the species of
this genus known as the " Mesquite," and bears a great crop of slender beans
that are veiy good cattle and horse food.

This is known as " Algeroba Honey" ; but about two-thirds of the crop i.s
an abnormal dark production, which is now known as "Honey-dew Honey."
This is produced by ihe bees collecting the honey-dew exuded by the swarms
of leaf-hopp-rs and aphis in th^ cane-fields. Van Dine says (Bulletin 17,
1908) : " The increase in the production of Hawaiian honey of recent years
corresponds with the advent of the introduced sugar-cane leaf-hopper into
the cane-fields, and the present extension of the business is in the vicinity of
the immense areas of land given to cane-culture."

The officers of the Sugar Planters' Experiment Station may have had other
successful introductions, such as ladybird beetles, to eat up mealy bug and
other scale ; but many of the ladybird beetles have in turn died out, while
scale is quite common on trees and plants.

The third institution that keeps a staff of trained entomologists is the
Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry, of which Mr. Alex-
ander Craw is the Superintendent Entomologist ; Mr. Koebele is Consulting
Entomologist ; and Mr. Kotinsky is in charge of laboratories and field ento-
mology. The staff of this Territorial Department examine all products coming
into the island, and fumigate or destroy all plants, flour, grain, &c., which
may introduce pests.

There are altogether nine working entomologists, without counting inspec-
tors, in the Hawaiian group.

The chief industries in Hawaii are sugar, pine-apples, and rice. Regular
orchards, in our sense of the word, do not exist, with the exception of Mr.
Dames' beautiful grounds at Moanalua, where all kinds cf tropical fruits and
flowers are grown. All the lands that will grow cane are scientifically
cultivated, and a considerable amount is under irrigation, so that a very high
percentage of sugar is obtained. Last year the islands produced 137,750
tons of sugar. The whole of both field and mill labour is carried out by
Japanese coolies, both men and women working in the fields, and at Waialua
Sugar Mill, near Haleiwa, the only white men we met were the chief chemist
and an assistant; all the other employees w^re Japanese.

[Photo, by D. L. van Dine.

Japanese Packing White Honey < Algeroba Honey) at the American Sugar Company's Ranch,
Island of Molokai, Hawaii.

The pine-apple industry is chiefly carried on at Wahiawa, where, at an
elevation of about 1,000 feet, a tract of country is irrigated and homesteaded
by Calif ornians; here 2,000 acres of pine -apples are grown, and the estimated
output in sight last year was 500,000 casts of canned pines, each containing
2 dozen tins, of an average weight of 2k lb. per tin. There are three other
canneries in the islands, one at Hilo, another at Kaiku, and a third at
Kealia (Kauai Island). Here the labour is all Japanese, under white super-
vision.

The plants are grown in rows of different distances apart — those for canning
usually 2 feet ; those for export in double rows with 2 feet on either side.
The land is ploughed before planting, and kept clean with the cultivator, and
the climate is so wet that no irrigation is required for their growth.

The Director of the Experimental Station has had a number of shipments
of fresh pine-apples sent vid San Francisco to try the Eastern markets ; but
though the distance is not great, they ripen so rapidly that the profit is very
uncertain. Their worst disease, that probably has something to do with
their decay, is a fungus that attacks them at the base, known as Thielaviopsis
ethaceticus. Few insect pests are found upon the pine apple: Diaspis bromelice
is a common but not serious pest on the leaves, and Pseudococcus citri is a
mealy bug collecting round the base of the fruit.

At the Bureau of Agriculture and Forestry I went over the collections
with Messrs. Craw and Kotinsky, particularly thecoccids, which are mounted
dry in glass tubes, and comprise a fine lot of specimens', among which are
many collected by Professor Koebele. Here, also, I attended a meeting of
the Entomological Society of Honolulu, and gave the members a short address
upon our work in Australia.

Several davs were spent on the island of Molokai, with Mr. Van Dine
investigating the stock diseases there, particularly the blow-fly pest on sheep
which damaged the sheep by blowing the damp wool in the same manner as
they do in Australia. Van Dine has since written a bulletin on this pest,
which has been identified as Calliphora dux. Here we also found the
bot-flies very common, and the shoulders of the horses running in the
paddocks were covered with their eggs.

The United States. — San Francisco was reached on the 21st of August, and
1 immediately went round to the office of the State Board of Horticulture,
at the Ferry Buildings. Here I met Mr. Bremner, who was in charge ; I
explained my mission to him, that I had come to see all that they could show
me.

So much has been said and written about their insectarium and parasite
breeding cages, that T had expected to see some large rooms, if not a piece of
land, fitted up with all modern appliances. Instead of this, the insectarium
is a small room, about 15 by 13 feet, adjoining the main office. About half
a dozen ordinary breeding cages of wood, glass, wire, and gauze contain scale
insects, ladybird beetles, and the celebrated codling moth apple parasite.
These latter were enclosed in a breeding cage in which were several stacks of
little bundles of laths so tied together that the liberated codling moth grubs,
received from the apple-growers in large quantities for food for the parasites,
could crawl in between the little laths and pupate, wh^re they were exposed
to the attacks of the large black ichneumon parasite (Calliephialtes messor).
There were a great number of these handsome black wasps crawling about
over the walls of the breeding cage ; now and then they turned thear attention to
codling moth pupae, and curved their ovipositor round and deposited their eggs
in the hapless grubs. Many of the enclosed parasites had been bred out from

6

earlier-infested pupre during the last few days; and while I was in the office,
Mr. Games, who had them under his charge, sent away a number of packages
to apple-growers who had applied for them for liberation in their orchards.

This is the parasite obtained about two years before from the north of
Spain by the entomologist of Western Australia ; it was figured and described
all over the world as the parasite that would, in a few years, wipe out the
codling moth in every country where it was properly introduced. It was
claimed that there was no codling moth in Spanish apple orchards. In
reference to apple orchards in Spain, I might state that on asking information of
Professor D. L. Kavarro, Director of Agriculture and in charge of Experimental
Stations at Madrid, he said that all the apple orchards in Spain were of very
small extent, chiefly con6ned to the north and north-west districts; and instead
of being free from codling moth, there was hardly a sound apple in one of
them. There was no export of apples, and the bulk of them were used for
cider, so that it did not matter much if they were grubby. He had never
heard of a parasite having the least effect upon them. This display of
codling moth parasites in the cages was very interesting from an entomo-
logical point of view ; bub when it came to the question of where these same
parasites could be found looking for codling moth in the apple orchards none
of the officers could tell me. Accompanied by Professor Woodworth, of the
University of California, I afterwards went over the great apple orchards
of Watsonville and the Pajaro Valley, where there was plenty of codling
moth, and where a great number of these parasites had been liberated.
Neither the County Entomologist (Mr. Vo^ck) or any of the orchardists had
ever seen a codling moth parasite in the orchards. Mr. C. H. Rogers, the
County Horticultural Commissioner, told us that they had sent many
thousands of codling moth grubs to the office at San Francisco to rear up the
parasites.

The conditions of codling moth in Pajaro Valley are somewhat interesting,
and a large series of experiments have been carried out. The lower part of
the valley, which lies behind the Bay of Monterey, is very subject to fogs,
which makes spraying difficult, because the fog forms moisture on the fruit
and foliage that dissolves the arsenic and causes it to burn the foliage ; but at
the same time the action of the fog also keeps the eggs of the codling moth
from sticking to the damp surface of the fruit, so that the damage from
moth is slight. The higher the altitude in the valley the worse the moth ;
and if unsprayed, 75 per cent, of the fruit is damaged. Most of the orchards
on the hillsides are sprayed from three to five times in the season with
arsenate of lead, and under these conditions no bandaging is done. Mr.
Luther sold 30,000 Ib. of arsenate of lead last season to these apple-growers,
and he thought about 3,000 Ib. more had been sold by the small dealers.
One and a half million dollars' worth of apples were grown and sent from this,
valley last year. ,

The next place I visited to inquire into the codling moth parasite was at
Sacramento. Here Mr. J. Isaacs, the Horticultural Commissioner, said he
had liberated a great number of the ichneumon wasps, but had only seen one
specimen at large since they had been turned out. We went all over the old
garden round his house, but though on the old apple-trees there were any*
number of codling moth grubs, we found no codling moth parasite.

Mr. Ehrhorn, the very able entomologist in charge at the Horticultural
Commissioner's office at San Francisco, could not tell me of any other place to
visit, and this was all they knew cf the Spanish codling moth parasite. Yet,
in the last Annual Report of the New Zealand Department of Agriculture,
1907, Mr. Kirk says, "that they sent codling moth grubs from New Zealand to

California to feed the parasites. Tri exchange for this assistance the President
of the State Board of Agriculture promised a colony of parasites. As the
Board has been requiring £1,000 from each country desiring parasites, the
gift was an extremely generous one, and the thanks of the Colony are due to
Mr. Elwood Cooper, the President, and the Horticultural Board for the
gift,"

In Mr. Boucher's report, on his return to New Zealand with the colony of
parasites, it is stated, " a number of parasites were liberated in an orchard
in Sonoma County last season. This orchard had not been sprayed for some
time, and the moth was rife — in fact, I was informed that the percentage of
clean fruit was nil ; yet during the season following the liberation of the
parasites there was an appreciable percentage of fruit free from the moth.
This season, it was reported to the State Board of Horticulture that the para-
sites were present in the orchard in large numbers, and investigation proved
that the report was correct."

Now, I was in California a year later than Mr. Boucher's report, but none
of the officers of the State Board of Horticulture could tell me anything about
this orchard or show me parasites in the orchards in any part of California.
Mr. Boucher's information was evidently second-hand. I can unhesitatingly
state that no parasite of the size of this parasite is of any commercial value
to the orchardist in checking codling moth. It is so big that every insecti-
vorous bird can capture it ; and so slow that it gives the birds all kinds of
chances ; and lastly, it has done no good in its native European home.

The value of introduced parasites in California has had a very fair test,
for it commenced about twenty years ago, when our ladybird beetle was
introduced into southern California to destroy Icerya purchasi. If every-
thing were true that has been published by the Press and in the reports of
the State Horticultural Commissioners since that date, of the value of the
wholesale importation of useful insects to combat existing or introduced
pests, there should now be no need for spraying, fumigation, or even the
existence of the Commissioners, except as port inspectors.

The State Board of Horticulture consists of nine members, who are
appointed by the Governor, two from the State at large, and one from each of
the seven horticultural districts. The members must be residents of their
respective districts and specially qualified by practical experience in horti-
culture ; and each holds office for a term of four years. One of its members
is treasurer, but the secretary is appointed from outside ; they also appoint
one of themselves, or someone outside, as inspector of fruit pests, to hold
office at the pleasure of the Board. The money, 5,000 dollars a year, for the
carrying out of the provisions of the Act is paid out of the State Treasury.

The Act that created this Board was called " An Act to create and
establish a State Board of Horticulture, and appropriate money for the
expenses thereof." Approved March 13th, 1883.

Two years before this the County Board of Commissioners came into
existence by " An Act to protect and promote the Horticultural interests of
the State " (March 14, 1881). Both these Acts have undergone considerable
changes during the last twenty years. The powers given under these two
Acts are very drastic, and the State Commissioners can do almost anything
in orchards and gardens. At the request of twenty five orchardists, the
Supervisors (County Councillors) can appoint County Horticultural Commis-
sioners, who can frame laws dealing with all insect pests ; appoint inspectors,
who have power to direct anyone to destroy plants or trees infested with
pests, and if they do not comply, can do the work and charge it to the land-

8

holder, and recover the expenses, even to selling the place. Some of the
County Commissioners have as many as 40 to 100 fumigating tents, and they
fumigate the trees twice a year ; from 50 to 70 tons of cyanide are used
every season in southern California, while spraying outfits are always going.

As a general rule, they do not fumigate right through the orchard, but the
inspector go.es round and marks those he thinks badly infested, or reasonably
supposed to be infected, so that scale is never cleaned right out of the
orchards. In fact, things were becoming so unsatisfactory that, while I was
in Washington, Mr. Marlatt, of the Federal Department, at the request of
the State Board of Horticulture, left for Los Angeles to carry out a series of
tests with the State Inspectors, for the best methods of fumigating.

As an instance of the powers of these Boards, "the White Fly scare " is a
good example. The White Ply (Aleurodes citri) is a very serious pest to the
orange growers in Florida, where it has been known for many years. Early
last year (1907) it was discovered in a number of gardens at Marysville, and
determined as identical with the Floridian pest. There were no orange
orchards in the town, and the fly was doing no practical harm in 'the parks
and gardens ; but the owners of citrus orchards some distance away raised
a cry that their industry was doomed if it was not destroyed. The town
stood in an angle of four counties ; Mr. Carnes served 320 notices on the
municipal authorities and householders , ordering them to cut down, strip, and
defoliate all trees and hedge plants growing in their grounds upon which
White Fly had ever been found. At their own expense hundreds of house-
holders, through no fault of their own, to no benefit to themselves, were at a
moment's notice, compelled to work themselves, or pay someone else to do
the work of destroying their private gardens. In a second outbreak at a*
gentleman's ranch further south, the whole of the available staff of the
Horticultural Com mi.- si oners, with an army of Japanese labourers, chopped
all the trees down ; the stumps were fumigated twice ; the tops and brush
all carted away; the leaves picked up, bagged, fumigated, and then burned.

According to the published reports, White Fly was exterminated in
California; but on a visit to Marysville with Professor Woodworth some
months after the Commissioners' work was over, we saw living White Fly in
several places, and heaps of dead foliage in the streets that had never been
burned. The Commissioners have since had two men constantly inspecting
the gardens and destroying any larvre or pupa? that they discover.

With all these powers, and so much money expended in bringing bene-
ficial insects from all quarters of the globe, what have the Commissioners
done in cleaning up the commercial orchards 1 And what would happen if
all spraying and mechanical methods came to a standstill 1 At Marysville^
at Sacramento, in the parks, gardens, and streets of southern California,
there was just as much red i-cale, brown scale, and purple scale as in
Australia — in fact, with the dust of the dry season and the scale, all the
uncultivated, unsprayed trees looked much worse than they do around
Sydney. If the parasites (introduced) have done so much good, why is this,
the case ? In all the large packing-sheds I found people washing and cleaning
the oranges before they were graded. If they have to be cleaned before
packing, it would hardly matter if th^re was another 10 or 20 per cent, of
scale to be washed off. Their native parasites, particularly small chalcids,
are common on all scale, or blight-infested trees, and, according to some
authorities, do more than the introduced species. Comys /usca is one of the
most active in infesting the Brown Scale (Lecanium hemisphericum). The
brown scale parasite, Scutdlista cyanea, which was so useful in South

9

Africa, though it attacked a large percentage of the olive scale upon the
pepper and other .shade trees when introduced into California, never became
established in the commercial orchards outside the towns.

In the Capitol grounds at Sacramento there is a large patch of citrus trees,
which are not disturbed or sprayed; these I found covered with red and
yellow scale and also several lecanid scales. While at Sacramento I visited
a number of orchards on the American River. The apples are not grown
on blight-proof roots as in Australia, but the true Woolly Aphis (Schizoneura
lanifjera, Hausm.) does not seem to affect the trees so badly as it does with
us : but here the foliage of the apple trees was so badly infested with a
green-leaf aphis (Aphis mali, Fab.), that they all looked as if they had been
sprayed with dirty oil and it had run down the trunks. Powdery mildew
had been very prevalent in all the land along the rivers, and the upper
branches of many of the peach tiees were quite bare of leaves. Coming
nearer to the town, all the pear orchards looked very unhealthy, with dead
branches showing out in most of the trees. This was caused by "pear
blight," a mysterious bacterial disease that is spreading all through the pear
orchards of California, and I was told that there are 2,000 acVes of what
were once valuable pear-trees in the Sacramento Valley dying out from this
disease. In southern Texas I afterwards saw orchards in a very bad way
from "pear blis-ht," and in other parts of America this very serious disease
is becoming only too common.

This might he very easily introduced into the pear orchards of Australia,
as it is very widely spread over the United States. Xo remedy is yet known
except cutting back branch by branch as it dies back ; and this, apparently,
is only a temporary check. Therefore we should take united action and
prohibit all kinds of paarwood, buds, &c., from any country where pear blight
i.j recorded.

At Marysville I saw several very large peach canneries where the labour
is all white, and everything is carried along by machinery in a most expedi-
tious manner.

Near by is Yuba Cify, \vhere there are a number of large grape and prune
orchards. I visited Mr. Staples' packing-house ; here they were packing and
sending away daily from 300 to 400 packages of Thompson's seedless grapes,
and expected to keep on packing for nearly six weeks longer. Each package
contained 20 lb., valued at 6d. per lb. at that time ; but this price was much
higher than the usual ra'e. He also had a gang of men, most of them
Chinamen (the best labour in the State for this work, he claimed), curing
prunes. At Mr. Onstott's there are 475 acres of raisin grapes, and wh^n
his outfit is in full working order, he covers 14 acres with drying-trays. He
had an apple orchard of some 35 acres in a very neglected condition, of which
he was rather proud, as he said without any spraying or preventatives there
were no codling moths in his apples. When I showed him at least a dozen
gtubs in a few moments, he said it did not matter, as he got enough apples
for his house !

At Lodi, another town visited, greit quantities of grapes are grown ; no
irrigation is require I, as the subterranean water is within 6 feet of the
.surface. About 50,000 acres are under cultivation, half of which are used
as table grapes and the other half for wine. Though phylloxera is common
in California, resistant stocks are comparatively unused ; the growers consider
that the cuttings are so much cheaper, that by the time the disease has
reached the killing stage, they can afford to 'dig them out. Acting on
instructions from the Victorian Government, I stopped at Fresno, on my road
to Los Angeles, to see Mr. Geo. Roeding, who is the American authority on

10

the caprification of Smyrna figs. He took a special trip, some years ago, to
Smyrna and the Levant, to see the methods employed in the East ; but it
was under the supervision of Mr. Swingle, of the United States Department
of Agriculture, that the successful introduction of Blastophaga grossorum
(the tiny fig insect) was accomplished. Mr. Roeding, who has a large nursery
and fruit-drying outfit, has all the different Capri figs growing in the orchard
with the Smyrna figs, and has demonstrated that Smyrna figs can be produced
in this part of California as perfect as those in the Levant.

The Capri figs are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, of which No. 1 is the best, as it
bears figs nearly all the year round. The fruit of the Capri figs, containing the
tiny wasps, are plucked off the trees and tied in strings or hung up in little
wire baskets on the branches of the Smyrna fig-trees. It is said that one
insect will fertilise a fig. The crop of Capri figs must be continuous, so that
the varieties growing the most irregular crops, like No. 1, are the most
useful. The fig industry, however, is not a very important one in California ;
with all the influence Mr. Roeding has had, only a few people have embarked
in the industry. This gentleman also grows large quantities of muscatels
and Thompson's seedless grapes, which are turned into raisins. Before the
Pure Food Act came into force in the United States last year, sulphur was
used in the treatment of the grapes and prunes ; now most of them are
sun-dried. Several of the growers wanted to know if our raisin-growers were
allowed to use sulphur for drying, and claimed that it was a great hardship,
for the raisins never had the same colour when simply sun-dried. Dr. Wiley,
of Washington, who was responsible for getting this gn at Act against adul-
teration passed, told me "that if a man wants to take sulphur into his
system, he should know when and how he is taking it." Since then, the
authorities at Washington have agreed to let the growers use sulphur for
two years longer, until the matter is further investigated. Sunnyside, an
adjoining estate, contains 640 acres of grape vines, and there are several
large wineries in the vicinity of Fresno.

From Fresno I went on to Los Angeles, where I, placed myself in the
hands of Mr. Jeffery, Horticultural Commissioner of the district, who has
since been elected Chief Horticultural Commissioner for California. He has;
a large staff of inspectors, as this is an important centre of the orange
industry. In the San Gabriel Valley there are 8,000 acres of citrus orchard,
all under irrigation, and, in the older orchards, the trees were covered with
fruit in fine condition ; but there was plenty of red, yellow, purple, and
blai k scale on some of them, and they were going to start fumigation in about
two weeks' time (23rd September). I spent one day motoring through this
valley with Messrs. Jeffery and Bemisb, and visited the Govina Low Lands
Packing Company's establishment, a co-operative society comprising some
forty menders. Here all the boxes are made by machinery, the fruit washed,
graded, and packed, and they can turn out 500 car loads a day.

Here I was told that if permanganate of potash is mixed with the water
through which the oranges are passed, to be washed and rubbed before
grading, there is no danger of black spot appearing upon the skin. It may
be quite correct that in an incipient state this disease is thus checked, and
is, therefore, worth noting.

At Los Angeles I met the manager of the California Fruit Exchange.
This is organised in the following manner :— Each district of from 20 ta
150 growers combine, and make an assessment on their orchards, the
funds of which are used to build a co-operative packing-house. They then
e'eor one of their members to a County Board, which consists of nine mem-

11

bers, each representing a group. This board levies 5 cents a case upon the
fruit under their control, and one of the number is elected as manager, and
has an office in Los Angeles. His duties are to keep in touch with all the
eastern markets ; to send off the fruit to the best advantage ; conduct all
sales and office business ; and his expenses are paid out of the 5 cents levy
per case.

Coining back to San Francisco, I stopped half a day at Santa Barbara,
and went through the walnut orchards.

On my return from southern California I went up to Santa Rosa, and saw
the hop-fields, and called at Mr. Luther Burbank's nursery ; he declined to
receive anyone, but furnished me with a lot of literature on his work.

I visited the two large Universities, where a considerable amount of ento-
mological work is carried out. The University of California is at Berkeley,
across the bay from San Francisco, and has a large section of agriculture
under the direction of Professor Wickson, with Professor Woodworth in
charge of the Entomological Branch, who, while attending to economic
research work, gives a regular course of lectures to students.

The Leland Stanford, junior, University is at Palo Alto, about 68 miles
south of San Francisco, and is a modern institution endowed by Mrs. Stan-
ford. A great many of the buildings suffered severely from the effects of
the earthquake, when San Francisco was wrecked, but this was being rapidly
repaired at the time of my visit. This University is under the direction of
Dr. Starr Jordan, and Mr. Vernon Kellog, a well-known writer and entomo-
logist, is in charge of the entomological work.

I also met Professor Koebele at his home in Alameda, and went through
his large collection of economic specimens from all parts of the world, and
obtained specimens of several fruit-flies and the parasite he had bred from
the Mexican Fruit Fly. As he intended to go down to Mexico later on in the
season, to search for parasites for the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association,
we arranged to meet at Mexico City, after I had been to Washington, and
as he had been down in that country on four or five expeditions, it was of
great advantage to me to join forces with him in a strange country.

I left San Francisco on the 17th September, and arrived in Washington
on the morning of the 22nd, when I went to the Department of Agriculture,
and presented my credentials to Dr. L. O. Howard. Chief of the Bureau of
Entomology. He at once took me round and introduced me to all his
officers, and, acting on his advice, I visited each officer in turn, and saw the
different methods adopted for arranging, mounting, and storing the specimens,
tire. The first Bureau of Entomology was formed in 1854, under Townsend
Glover. In 1894 it carried an appropriation of 30,000 dollars, and consisted
of the chief, with eight scientifically-trained assistants, and three clerks and
messengers.

Speaking before the members of the. Seventh Internation il Zoological
Congress at Boston. last year (1907), Dr. Howard said: " At the present
time of writing, the entomological service has been given bureau rank ; its
budget for the present year is 340,000 dollars, and its pay-roll includes 100
scientific assistants and 250 other employees." Tn the Botanical Bureau,
which is split up into a number of divisions, there are about seventy trained
botanists, without counting a small army of collectors, <fcc. In the Depart-
ment of Agriculture there are over 10,000 officers. 1 his is the Federal Depart-
ment. Outside this, under the Adams Act, there are sixty State Experimental
Stations or Agricultural Colleges, one to each State ; and in seven others
.special stations are maintained, such as the Pest Crop Commission of Louisiana,
.at Baton Ronge, <tc.

12

Many of the State Agricultural Experiment Stations have well-known
entomologists on their staff. Last year, including Hawaii and Porto Rico,
there were fifty-one stations with entomological workers ; so that the list of
official entomologists in the United States is a long one, and contains names
of men who have made a world-wide reputation.

At Washington, each officer works at a certain group or division, as Dr.
A. D. Hopkins, who is in charge of Forest Insect Investigations, and Professor
F. M. Webster, in charge of Cereal and Forage Plant Insect Investigations,
Others rank as assistant entomologists, and often deal with a single order of
insects, such as D. W. Coquiller, who takes the flies (Diptera\ and Dr. Swartz
the beetles (Goleoptera). These specialists, again, have their assistants ; while
there are always a number of men on the staff who are known as special
field agents.

Under the Department of Agriculture there are ten well-defined Scientific
Bureaux and Divisions, some of which are again split into smaller subdivi-
sions ; but the ten gentlemen in charge are responsible for the working of
their respective branches, and deal directly with Mr. Wilson, the Secretary
of Agriculture. There is no Director of Agriculture, and the system
apparently works very well.

One of the weak points in the smaller subdivisions is that the ambitious
man, when he becomes head of a subdivision, tries to get all the subjects
allied to his particular subject into his hands at the expense of the next
man ; and as the sub-divisions increase this will become more acute, and the
work may overlap.

I spent a fortnight, under Dr. Howard's advice, first visiting all the
different officers of the Entomological Staff, some of whom work in the
National Mus-um, while others are scattered about in offices and buildings
rented by the Department until their new building is completed, and after-
wards the heads of the other bureaux. With Mr. C. L. Marlatt I went
through the collection of Coccidce (scale insects), which is by far the largest
collection in the world of these important pests. Still, until the last few
years there was hardly a collection of any kind of these insects in any of the
scientific museums. Here all the micro-slides of coccids are kept in paper
envelopes, and arranged in cabinets like small card catal igues. Coccids are
very unsatisfactory insects to arrange in reference collections, and every
worker at these scale insects has some special method of preserving them.
In Hawaii they wero all kept in glass tubes plugged with cotton wool : in
Washington they are p'aced in shallow cardboard boxes, that fit close
together in insect cabinet drawers, the name of each written across the out-
side, and all par.iculars written and placed inside with the specimen. All
the specimens in the National Museum collection, which are in charge of
Dr. Howard, and those in the working collections in the offices, have a stock-
book number, a system which was started when the collections were first
formed. I examined all tho mealy bugs or soft-bodied coccids with Mr.
Sanders, who is in charge of one section of the Coccidce, and is inspector of
plants introduced into the United States. Under the care of Mr. Oliver .1
went through ths propagating grounds, wh< re there are many wonderful
plant experiments being carried out in a series of large glass-houses upon
hybridization, development of strong-rooted grasses, layering and grafting of
mangoes and other tropical fruits.

Some time WHS spent with Mr. Nathan Banks, the authority on lace-
winged flies (tfeuroptera), and also in charge of ticks and mites, to whom I
submitted specimens of doubtful Queensland cattle ticks given me for expert
determination by the Chief of our Stock Branch in Sydney.

13

At the National Museum I examined many drawers full of parasitic
hymenoptera with Mr. Ashmead, who is one of the leading authorities upon
these most interesting little creatures, of so much economic importance in the
destruction of pests, and then went through some groups of the Coleoptera
with Dr. Swartz. Here, also, is a very fine collection of Psyllidce, or " Leaf
Fleas,'' small homopterous insects that are very abundant in Australia, where,
on the native bush, they appear to take the place of aphids or plant lice.

With Mr. Coquillet 1 left some specimens of a fruit-fly, which he has since
determined as an undescribed species of Dacus, With Dr. Harrison Dyer
the curious slug-moths and their larva? were examined. These are allied to
the cup moths of Australia, some of which often defoliate our forest trees.
Dr. Hopkins gave me a very interesting morning, going through his work on
those insects that play such an important part in the destruction of forest
trees. He has been working twelve years on one group of beetles — the
Scolytidce — which do so much damage to the pine trees; and he has had
maps prepared showing the range of each species. He has made a study of
the life history of each species in detail, which has made his advice of such
value to the Forestry Department.

Some time was spent with Professor Webster, in charge of field crops and
their diseases. He is a well-known authority on the Hessian Fly and the
Chinch Bug, both very serious wheat-pests in the United States, but not yet
known in Australia. One pest that might be very easily introduced into
this country is a seed-destroying chalcid wasp (Brucliophagus funebus, How.).
It lives in the larval state in the seeds of red clover and lucerne, and has
been carried in these seeds into several parts of the world where it was
previously unknown.

With Mr. Quantance I went into the question of fruit-pests and their
range in North America, and their methods of using sprays and spraying
outfits. Little or no fumigation is done in the Eastern States, probably
because the most serious scales that chiefly attack citrus trees in the west
are unknown in the New England orchards. Compressed air is used in
spraying ; and in some sprayers, used chiefly in the vineyards, the action is
geared on the wheels and the nozzles adjusted on either side.

The cherry and apple fruit-flies, long known as Trypeta pomonella and
T cerasi, arj only minor pests, the latter rare; still the apple fruit-fly some-
times becomes a very serious pest in isolated places. Later on, at the
grounds round Cornell University, we found the apples very badly infested
with a grub, which Professor Slingerland said was this fly. One of their worst
fruit-pests is the Plum Curculio (Conotrac/telus nenuphar, Horbst.), which
damages not only plums but apples, pears, cherry, and peaches. The beetle laya
its eggs in the young fruit early in the season, and the adult larvae, after burying
themselves in the ground, emerge later on and feed on the ripening fruit.
Codling moth and woolly aphis are common in all the apple orchards, but in
some of the Northern States, like New Hampshire, and parts of New York
State, commercial orchards are very few ; and all through the former State
most of the apples were grown along the fences or in very small lots. Georgia
is one of the most important fruit-growing States, where a great quantity of
peaches and apples is grown. The insectarium at the time I was in Washington
had a somewhat neglected look, as it was at the end of the season. There
was nothing remarkable about their methods or the way in which they
looked after and bred their insects. The Entomological Bureau at Washing-
ton has so many field agents in touch with the breeding cages of the
Experiment Stations that the central insectarium does not appear to be so
important as it was at one time.

14

The Silk Division of the Bureau is under the management of Mr. Gilles
The seed (eggs) are purchased by the Division from Italy, France, or Japan,
and distributed free to the cultivators. Young mulberry trees are supplied
in the same manner, and people are given full instructions how to feed and
look after both the worms and their food supply. When the cocoons are
ready the Dapartment buy them from the grower, giving him a bonus of
1 dollar 15 cents per lb., a fraction over the usual market rates.

The cocoons are received in the silk-house, and there the enclosed pupae
are killed by placing th°m in closed boxes with bisulphide of carbon ; they
are afterwards dried for about three weeks in the sun in shallow wire-
bottomed trays, but if placed in a fruit-evaporator the process of drying only
takes two days. These cocoons are reeled in the departmental laboratory on
a Berthold spinning machine by expert girls, who were taught the methods
of working the machinp, and also of dealing with the silk, by two French
experts, who were specially engaged for this work. The silk is made up into
large hank5!, and sold to the manufacturers by tender. There is a very heavy
import duty upon silk goods and dress pieces coming into the United States,
but raw silk comes in free. There are over a hundred silk factories in the
United States under this protection.

Pebrine is a rare disease here, but Flacherie, caused by improper feeding, is
very common, and the smell of decaying silkworms has frequently brought
the operations of a prospective producer to a close. The eggs can be kept in
cool storage at a temperature of 40 degrees for about eight months, after
which they are useless. To hatch them out the temperature is brought up to
75 degrees for a week. It is found advisable to kill all the grubs that hatch
out on the first day (known as "gallopers"), and save all from the second
to the thirty-fourth day, destroying all those coming out after that date.

With the high rate of labour in the United States, it will be a very long
time, from all accounts, before the silk industry will be self-supporting and
of any great national value.

Dr. Phillips has charge of the Apicultural Division, which is a very
important branch, for there are half a million bee keepers in the United
States in the east. Most of the '( bee ranches " do not possess more than
100 hives, but in California there are some ranchers who own as many as
1,000 hives. In the laboratory the question of bee paralysis has been studied,
and Dr. Phillips is of opinion that quite a number of diseases are placed
under this general name. There are two forms of .foul brood, according to
Dr. White, who has discovered the second, Baccillus ulvce, the common one in
America. He would be very glad to get specimens of foul brood from
Australia to study. Here, also, are analysed hundreds of samples of honey.
Records are kept of all the bee-keepers to whom pamphlets are sent, and
they try to get in touch with every bee-keeper in the States.

The most interesting experiment to the outsider is probably the activity of a
hive. A special Fairbanks' weighing machine, adjusted to weigh from |- of an
oz. to 400 lb., is used. A hive of bees is placed upon the scales, and accurate-
observations and records are made of the changes that go on, with the
weight of food given, increase in bee?, quantity of honey, &c., and many
interesting facts have been revealed in this manner.

In the Bureau of Plant Industry I met the chief, Mr. B. T. Galloway, and
many of his officers, who have travelled all over the world to find new or
improved species of plants of commercial value, and have done wonderful work
in transporting and acclimatising new fibre plants, fruits, arid fodder plants ;
such names as D. C. Fairchild and W. T. Swingle are known wherever such
work has been carried out. With the latter gentleman I went through the

[Photo, by Prof. W. D. Hunter.

* v\ &

+ V x

«^

- 1

tr-

Ginning Mill showing Bales of Compressed Cotton, Calvert, Texas, U.S.A.

15

great collection of cacti that had been gathered from the deserts, and housed
in the Department's hot-house. He pointed out what a wonderful example
of evolution was seen in the different kinds of spiny growths produced by
the cactus plants, to protect themselves from their many enemies in a desert
where they are the only edible thing for the wandering animals. He rather
discredits a spineless cactus, such as the Californians claim has been pro-
duced by Luther Burbank, for, he says, without its spines a cactus could not
exist. He was greatly interested in the flora of the interior of Australia
and in my account of our drought-resisting forage scrub trees, and the way
in which the introduced cacti had spread over the land, for in Mexico and
America they never seem to get away from their home in the poor desert
lands where nothing else will grow. He is carrying out some experiments
in planting date-palms in Colorado, and thinks that we should be able to
grow dates at a profit round the irrigation bores in the interior.

Mr. Dewey showed me samples of the many fibre plants that have been
experimented with in the United States, and said from their experience
with the Bombay aloe (Aryave canfula), it might be grown at a profit in
Australia. He said that the true Yucatan- sisal, or hemp plant, had never
reached either Honolulu or Queensland.

Mr. Collins, who has charge of the cotton section, informed me that sixty
millions of dollars worth of cotton is grown in the United States, of which
only three to four millions is exported, and about ten millions' worth
of Egyptian cotton is imported in its place ; but I propose to deal with the
Cotton States later on.

Maize (corn) is another plant which forms an immense food staple all
over the States, and the plant breeders are always at work improving the
old or creating new varieties. Some are to grow rapidly in dry climate?.
They are breeding forms found in Mexico, with very little foliage and small
cobs, but which will produce a crop in three months ; others from South
America, on the other hand, take nearly a y*ar to mature a crop. The
quantity of maize grown in the Central States is something enormous ; after
coming through the western plains there are hundreds of miles of maize
fields right up to Chicago.

The germination of seeds is carried out in this Plant Industry Division.
The seeds being tested are first counted, and sent to the officer in charge of
the laboratory, where various methods are used with different s^eds. There
were thousands of little grass seeds on the surface of damp blotting-paper,
others under saturated cloths, or between sheets of thick blotting-paper.
These are placed in ovens of varying temperatures, and every packet checked
and tabulated. Then they have a staff of ladies, who examine all samples of
seeds sent in by people who have purchased them, and want to know if they
are up to standard. Each sample is microscopically examined, the seed true
to name placed in one packet, the foreign seeds, if any, in a second packet,
and the inert matter, dirt, &c., in a third package. To verify their determi-
nation they have a reference collection of all the commercial seeds, seeds of
weeds, <kc., in small tubes.

In another branch all drugs and the products of plants are examined, and
particularly those plants reputed to be poisonous to stock and man.

The Bureau of Animal Industry takes up the duties of our Stock Branch,
and also covers a number of other branches. Dr. Mueller took me round the
laboratories and showed me the methods of preparing preparations for
injection fjr blackleg, malleen for glanders, and tuberculin for cattle.
Great quantities of these are made up and sent to the stock-owners.

10

The. officers of this bureau told me that sheep scab is still common in the
United States ; anthrax occurs every now and then, and on several occasions
has been traced to hides in tanneries; foot and mouth disease has been
stamped out ; but hog plague is very common, and has been closely studied.
Though caused by a minute bacillus, it is essentially a dirt disease in the first
instance. This bureau analyses and publishes a list of the proprietary sub-
stances permitted in official dipping of sheep and cattle for scabies. In the
list printed in August, 1907, there are forty-two different washes, consisting
of lime and sulphur, coal tar extracts, and tobacco extracts.

The Bureau of Biological Survey is another branch closely related to the
Entomological, as it deals with the range and distribution of birds and
animals; the value either from the point of game or food; and their value
as insectivorous birds. In the absence of the Chief, Dr. Fisher took me
round. The collection and examination of the stomachs of many thousands
of birds have been carried out, and thus the food of each is known, and the
insectivorous ones are protected. This branch has issued many valuable
reports on the value to the farmer of different groups of birds. ]n the work
•on noxious animals, maps have been made, showing the districts infested.
The sage rats, or ground squirrels as they should be correctly called, are
almost as destructive as our rabbits ; in one district in the north west
last year they destroyed 300,000 dollars' worth of wheat. The chief poisons
used to destroy these pests is strychnine and phosphorus, bnt they are very
cunning and not easily poisoned. It is reported that a tubercular disease
.spontaneously sprang up among them last year, causing a great mortality in
some districts. The officers of the department are trying to obtain and
propagate this disease. The branch deals, to a large extent, with the Game
Laws and Bird Protection Acts, and it would probably be a very good idea for
the Australian Departments of Agriculture and the officers of the Forestry
Departments to have charge of the Bird Projection Acts, which at present
only exist and are administered by no one in particular.

The Forest Service is under Mr. Gifford Pinchot, who has done so much in
protecting the remains of the American forests. On paper the United States
national forests cover an immense area, but in reality the eyes have been cut
out of them; and, according to authentic reports, millions of feet of the best
timber have been stolen by some of the lumber companies, and thousands
more destroyed by forest fires. It is only a matter of a few years hence
when the people of the United States will have to go to Canada for their
lumber.

In 1891 Congress authorise! the President to establish forest reserves,
now known as national forests, and the Yellowstone Park was proclaimed as
xuch the same year. At the present time there »are 145,000,000 acres of
national forest, without including another 5,000,000 in Alaska and Porto
Rico.

These are chiefly composed of coniferous trees, and are all situated in the
north and north-west ; there are no forest lands belonging to the Govern-
ment ill the Eastern States. Theie is very little replanting going on. The
supervisors have direct charge of the forest lands, and all business passes
through their hands. Under them come the rangers, who live in central
points in the forest, and carry out the work on the ground — sell timber, grant
permits for settlers or miners to cut timber, fight forest fires, and patrol
the country. Included in these forest areas are some agricultural lands,
which are let as homestead leases in blocks of from 160 to 320 acres.
There is also much of the forest which adjoins the " free range country,"
where sheep and cattle men graze their stock on the Government lands, and

[Photo, by Prof. W. D- Hunter

Field Experimental Cage in the Cotton Fields at Dallas Texas, U.S.A.
Used in the Boll Weevil Experiments.

17

}>:iv 11 ^ rent. This system of " free range," which has led to so many acts
of violence in the State- in which it is in vogue, is also responsible for a
1 deal of damage to the young forest trees in consequence of the stock
trespassing.

The importance of the Weather Bureau to the Department of Agriculture
can he undrrstoMl by the value of the "frost" warnings issued to let the
fanner^ know when h ird frosts are to bs expected. Two weather charts are
issued every day, so that any cyclonic disturbance can be located and
watch ' 1 from one end of the States to the other.

Acting still on Dr. Howard's advice, I arranged to visit Cornell University
as being a typical example of an up-to-date agricultural college. Leaving
Washington in the evening, T reached Ithaca early next morning and took the
tram to th- hills beyond, on which the University stands. The chiefs of the
stition staff, L. H. IJiiVy. the Director, and Professor J. H. Comstock, are
two of the best kncwn nimes in the Universities of the United States.
Professor Comstock had just remove 1 with his stiff to the new agricultural
buildings, that oveilook a wonderful range of country and are fitted up with
all the latest improvements for teaching ; he went with me over the magni-
ficent library and through the lecture rooms, insectarium, and museum collec
tions. Here I met the members of his staff, Messrs. Slingerland, McGillvray,
Bradley, and Needhanr; and at a meeting of the Entomological Club, at the
Profe>sor's request, I gave the students an address on economic entomology
in Australia.

Dr. J. G. Needham has an interesting experimental house on 5 acres of
marsh lind on the great lake below the college, where he has a boit and
apparatus to study 'he growth and transformations of all kinds of water
insects, ttc., the chief food supplies of freshwater fishes, and the methods of
dealing with mosquitoes and other marsh-land pests. The marsh land was
handed over on a perpstual lease to the University by the owner, an ex-student,
for i his special work.

On the following evening I l^ft for Boston to meet the officers of the Gypsy
Moth Commission, who have charge of the work of destroying this foliage5-
eating moth in the State of Massachusetts.

The first Commission was appointed in 1890, with an appropriation of 50,000
dollars ; in the following year a second Commission was appointed, which was
soon sifter taken over by the State Board of Agriculture, and another 50,000
dollars was obtained ; and in 1892 the State Legislature passed 75,000 dollars
to continue the work. In 1893 the Commission asked for a further sum of
165,000 dollars, and were finally granted 100,000 dollars ; and the total sum
that had been spent by the State at the end of 1895 was over 450,000 dollars,
and still the Gypsy Moth was flourishing.

A regular staff was always working, and many reports were published,
until, in 1906, the Federal Department of Agriculture was asked to take it in
hind, and Dr. Howard visited Europe to inquire into the conditions of the
Gypsy Moth in its native home, for it was originally introduce 1 from France.
He made arrangements with many of the European entomologists to send
over p^ek lie winter caterpillars of the moths, which are being culti-

vated in the Federal Insectarium, near Boston, to see if they can obtain from
them parasites that are known t) exist in Europe, in sufficient numbers to
<;heck its spread.

There are, therefore, two distinct Commissions at Boston — the State Com-
missioners and the officers of the United States Experiment Station. The
State Commissioners are under Mr. Worthly, with whom and some officers of

the Federal Branch I travelled over about 200 miles of the infested country;
it is open forest country, but round Beverley are the grounds and homes of
the wealthy people of New York and Boston. The infested area contains-
8,000 miles of roads, along which much of the work of burning and clearing
out the egg masses and grubs has been carried out. As many as 1,700 men
have been employed at one time, and at the time I was there the Commissioner
estimated there were about 1,000 at work. There are five special field agents and
commissioners, who meet at the Control Office every week ; and the entomo-
logist in charge, Mr. Kirkland, has a salary of 5,000 dollars a year. The
money to carry out this work is found by the State Legislature voting a cer-
tain sum, and then there is a regular assessment on every town in the infested
districts. If any town has to spend more than its regular assessment, they
can obtain a refund up to a certain limit from this State vote. The Federal
Experiment Station is under the charge of Mr. Rogers, with a special vote of
10,000 dollars to be used under Dr. Howard's advice in introducing and
experimenting with all kinds of parasites, some of which have been turned
out in thousands. At present it is too soon to notice any effect, but as this is
one of the biggest experiments of the kind that has ever been undertaken, the
eyes of all the economic entomologists of the world are on the Gypsy moth arid
its parasites under the skilled management of Dr. L. O. Howard, who does
not claim that they will be successful, but as he has the money and oppor-
tunity he is going to try, for up to date all mechanical means have failed.
After a flying visit to the Natural History Museum at New York, on my road
back to Washington, I returned on 12th October. On 15th October I Jefb
Washington for New Orleans, with Dr. Howard, to see the pests of the
Southern States and study the Cotton Boll Weevil in Texas. We arrived at
New Orleans about midnight on the next day ; and there we met Professor
Hunter, who is in charge of the Boll Weevil Experiment Station at Dallas,
Texas.

The main crop all through these Southern States is cotton, in which every-
body is interested ; in consequence of a strike of the wharf labourers, there
were thousands of bales of cotton piled up on the wharves waiting for transport.
Cotton is grown at so close a margin of profit in the Southern States that,
every pest that attacks the crop threatens the whole output. Nothing is more
dreaded than the cotton boil weevil, which has caused so much destruction in
Texas, has crossed the Mississippi, and is now common at Baton Rouge, under
100 miles from New Orleans. This little weevil (Attthonomus grandis] lays
its eggs in the immature boll of the cotton bush, and the young larva feeding
within causes the boll to turn yellow and drop off. As soon as one reaches
an infested district where they are abundant, it vill at once be noticed that
all the lower part of the plant is bare of bolls, while all the good bolls are
on the upper portion ; in many districts half the crop is destroyed by this
beetle. Under the present conditions of cultivation it seems a very difficult
matter to deal with such a pest ; for those hibernating among the dr ad plants
and rubbish left on the ground after the crop is gathered, appear next season,
ready to carry on the work of infestation. Some of the preventatives that
have been carefully considered are — first, the growth of a cotton that wilL
mature rapidly before the weevils get to work ; another, some cheap method
of utilising the dead stalks of the cotton plants, such as making them into,
paper ; and experiments are being carried out along these lines.

A large number of diffVrent kinds of parasites and predaceous insects have
been found destroying the boll weevil at different stages of its growth, but
none have made any impression. Among one of the most remarkable means of

[Photo, by Prof. W. D. Hunter.

Cage for the Study of Boll Weevil and other pests. Dallas Experiment Station, Texas, U.S.A.

19

exterminating this pest was the one proposed by Mr. O. T. Cook, of the United
States Department of Agriculture, who introduced an ant that he found in
Guatemala, which he stated devoured the local boll weevi!, but though 4,000
were brought over, there is no record of them ever having fulfilled their
mission ; and the people, reasonably afraid of a new pest in the ant; made
objections, which stopped further consignments being sent.

At the Dallas Experiment Station there is a trained staff of entomologists,
and thousands of living boll weevils are under observation in the breeding
cages, and some very fine reports have been issued on the work.

AVe stopped at Baton Rouge, where there is the Louisiana State Uni-
versity and Agricultural College, and a second branch, called the Pests
€rop Commission of Louisiana. The latter is under the care of Mr. Newell,
who is well known on account of his experimental work with cattle ticks ;
he also dea's with all kinds of pests and diseases of crops, gardens, and
orchards His laboratories are very well fitted with all the latest improve-
ments and appliances. From the study of the life history of the larval
ticks, it has been found out how long they can exist without food after
hatching from the eggs. He contends that if all stock is kept out of a
paddock over that time, the tick infestation dies out, and that by gradually
extending this clean area, a whole district can, with these precautions,
eventually be freed from ticks. He rather discountenances any smearing or
dipping of cattle and stock to kill the ticks upon them, because if this was
universal they would rot carry out his methods. With a combination of
both methods I think he would have much more chance of success, for a
straying beast getting into a clean area would destroy the. whole year's
work. He had a number of different animals housed round the station
artificially infested with different species of ticks. He says : " The investi-
gations which various entomologists have made of the life history of the
cattle tick, show that its complete and total annihilation in the United
States is not only a possibility but an assured fact, when the farmers and
cattlemen understand that this can be accomplished, and when they set to
work in steady co-operation with each other and the proper State officials,
to remove the cursed parasite from the South."

Here we made some observations on the increase of a small black ant
(Iridomyrmex kumilis), introduced, it is believed, from Buenos Ayres, with
specimens exhibited at the St. Louis Exhibition. It bids fair to be a very
serious house pest, and is swarming all over the town. Considering that we
had suggestions made to some of our landholders a few years ago to intro-
duce an African ant to kill out the rabbits, it is interesting to note this fact
to show how easily an ant may become a plague.

From Baton Rouge we went on to Shrieveport, where Dr. Howard has
-some officers at work on boll weevil experiments, and going on from here
we came into the well-defined weevil-infested country, after crossing the
Mississippi From Shrieveport we went on to Dallas, and now were in
Texas, and on some poor country saw some fields of what is locally called
" Bumble bee cotton," that is, cotton plants that are so stunted that a
bumble bee resting on his hind legs can suck the honey out of the flowers.
The Texas State Fair was being held at Dallas, and on the Sunday I went
through the stock exhibits with Professor Hunter. Everything was just as
busy as on a week-day. Cattle were well represented, and the typical " red
hog " was the favourite breed of pipr, though there were a few exhibits of
Berkshires. There was only one small lot of sheep, as sheep are not run on
this part of Texas.

20

From Dallas we travelled down to Houston, through some of the richest
cotton land of the State ; over a million pounds' worth of cotton came from
a rich belt known as the Ellis district. Stepping out at mid-day at College
Station, we went to the State Agricultural College, where, while Dr. Howard
was on his business bent, I went round with the Director, Mr. J. W. Carson,
through the laboratories, o.ver the cotton mill, ard the small cotton factory,
In the laundry we found several gangs of students doing all the washing and
laundry work of the College. There are 800 acres of land on the farm, and
about 600 students come from all parts of Texas and the adjoining States.
There are so many that a large number are camped in tents in the park.

We went from Houston to Galveston, where we spent some time at the
Medical School. Some very extensive experiments have been carried out in
dealing with yellow fever and the mosquitoes. This town was almost swept
out of existence on the night of the 8th September, 1900, when a tornado
swept the ocean right over it, and 79,000 of the inhabitants were drowned.
Since then the remaining citizens have built an immense sea-wall, from 10
to 14 feet high, right round the city, and pumped in 10 feet of sand, so that
the whole town has been raised, and rebuilt to this height above the sea-level.

On the low flat land between Houston and Galveston there is a consider-
able amount of rice grown, chiefly of the Japanese and Honduras varieties.
There are some extensive fig orchards, and large areas of vegetable gardens ;
while at Webster nothing but strawberries are grown. There were a number
of pear orchards on the road, but all of them were badly affected with pear
blight ; every tree was full of dead branches. Most of the country in this
region is in the hands of Italian or Japanese settlers. One of the results
of an Italian settlement in a district is, I am told, that every bird, big and
little, is shofc and eaten, as in their native country. Returning to Houston
we left in the evening for Victoria, and after passing through a large sugar
plantation, soon came on to the open prairie-1. On the train we met the manager
of the Pierce Ranch, who wished to show Dr. Howard his imported Indian
cattle for report to the Minister fur Agriculture, so we dropped out at a way-
side station in the dark, and spent the night at the homestead, getting up at
daylight, and travelling about 25 miles in a motor before breakfast.

These large Indian cattle came from the Montgomery district in northern
India, which is famous for its cattle, and Mr. Bindon made a special trip on
behalf of some Texan stockmen to India, where he purchased and shipped
them over to the States at considerable expense. The breeders claim that
not only does a cross with a Texan cow produce a large and much quieter
beast, but that the skin is covered with such a very fine short hair (unlike
the local Texan cattle) that they are immune from the attacks of cattle
tick. This was accounted for by a theory that the beast's coat was so short
that the larval ticks, if they succeeded in getting on to the animal,
always dropped off when th^y underwent their next moult, for there was
nothing for them to cling to when undergoing their transformation. Later
on in Jamaica, where a similar Indian strain was introduced many years
ago, and a very great number of the beasts in the " cattle pen " country
showed striking Indian characteristics, I was told by one of the oldest stock
breeders that he considered they had spoilt their cattle by the Indian blood,
for the flesh was not so good, being much coarser. Large quantities of rice,
cotton, and lucerne are grown on this estate ; some of it with State prisoners,
who are let out to the ranch-owners in gangs, in charge of a warder, who is
responsible for them, the rancher paying so much a month per head for his
State convict labour.

[Photo, by Prof. W. D. Hunter.

The Laboratory, Dallas Experiment Station, Texas, U. S. A.

21

From there we went on to Victoria, where there is a small experiment
station under Mr. Mitchell, who has been located there for fifty years, and
is an authority on the natural history of Texas.

At San Antonio I made arrangements for going on to Mexico cid Laredo
having telegraphed to Professor Koebele, who had left Alameda the week
before and gon-^ down via El Paso. Here I parted with Dr. Howard, who
was returning next day rid Chicago, and with Professor Hunter, who went
back to Dallas.

I left San Antonio at 10 a.m. and crossed into Mexico in the evening at
Laredo. All the country after leaving San Antonio was poor level land
covered with low Mesquite bushes, and after crossing the Rio Grande River, on
the l>order, the country became worse. On Sunday morning we were travers-
ing the true Mexican dtsert, with its miles of sand, cacti of a dozen different
kinds, scattered scrubs and low hills, with small mud village? and flocks of
goats. San Luis Pobosi, the only town of any size, was passed in the
afternoon.

Early on the following morning I arrived at Mexico City, where Professor
Koebele met me at the railway station, and I took up quarters in the
Itiburdie Hotel. I presented my credentials to the Secretary of the Depart-
ment de Fomento, who informed me that Professor Herrera was away sick,
but sent me on to Dr. Giandra, his assistant, who made most of the arrange-
ments for me while in the city. We went through the departmental
collections, which are not extensive but very interesting. The Mexican
Fruit Fly (Trypeta ludens) is the most important pest, from a commercial
point of view, as it has caused so many difficulties with the export of oranges
into the United States. I, however, propose to deal with this pest in the
Appendix (Fruit Flies). The other pests of the orange are the well-known
scale insect Chio'iaspis cifri, and three species of longicorn beetles—
Instenaspis verticulis, Insdendrobium maxillosus, Insmalacopterus lineolatus*

Professor A. L. Herrera is chief of the Commission of Parasitologia, which
takes the place of the Entomological Branch here, and he has charge of the
work of dealing with insect pests, and has a Federal Commission at Yutapec,
Morelos County, with a vote of money to administer the Act dealing with
the destruction of fruit-flies. Their methods are similar to those we enforce,
the cleaning up of the orchards and the destruction, by burning and burying,
of all infested fruit; and they claim that there has been a very marked
diminution in the amount of infested fruit since they enforced these measures.
They have destroyed all the old fences round the orchards, and replaced them
with wire and posts; and a number of people have leen fined for not cleaning
up their orchards.

Most of the oranges over tho local supply are shipped in crates to the
eastern portion of the United States. These oranges are examined and
passed by the State inspector, who gets a certificate from the mayor of the
district, under which they are exported.

From the Inspector's report (for September, 1907), there are 9,502 orange
trees in Morelos district from which 785,738 oranges were exported, and
1 9,534 were destroyed on account of infestation of fruit-fly. Many of the larger
growers, seeing the value of clean orchards, have cleaned theirs at their own
expense. A great number of experiments have been carried out in the
laboratory on the action of chemicals upon the maggots ; and the inspectors in
some places where wood is scarce are allowed to inject beneiue into infested
oranges to kill the maggots instead of burning them. Experiments have also
been made in spraying the trees with a decoction of the foliage of an
Apocynnceous plant (Haplophyton cimicidum), commonly known as the

22

<( Cockroach Plant," which is sweetened and sprayed on the infested trees.
The fruit-flies are attracted to it and die very quickly from its poisonous
effects. The formula is 2 Ib. of chopped-up plant boiled in 3 gallons of
water, strained, and mixed with 3 Ib. of sugar. The only parasite that has
been noticed is a small Braconid wasp (Cratosipila rudibunda), but though
at times as many as 10 to 15 per cent, of the maggots are parasitized, it
does not seem to be much of a check on the maggots in the orange, but more
common in the smaller fruits.

Accompanied by Professor Koebele, Dr. Giandra, and an interpreter, I
went down to the town of Yutapec, and spent several days among the
orchards, going round with the inspectors, and seeing the examination, packing,
and transportation of the sound oranges and the destruction of the damaged
ones in the orchards. The district is semi-tropical, with rich black soil and
plenty of surface water for irrigation by gravitation. There is no system in
planting, and the trees are all shapes and sizes, and all are seedlings.
Nothing is known about budding, grafting, or even pruning, yet they grow
some very fine oranges. Most of the orchards are small, ranging from 50 to
500 trees, and few of the owners have any very exact idea of the number of
acres in their holdings. Labour is very cheap, and the Chief Inspector's
salary is only 75 cents per day (Is. 6d.), and the assistants 50 cents (Is.), for
twelve hours' work. The oranges are examined by the inspectors as they are
being placed in the large open crates that hold 318 oranges. These oranges
are sold in the orchard at 25 cents per hundred.

There are several other districts where fruit fly is known to exist, but as
there is no export from them the departmental officers are not dealing with
their orchards, their object being more to keep the United States open to their
fruit than from any hope of clearing out the fruit-flies.

With Professor Koebele's knowledge of the district around Mexico City,
I saw many of the small and much-neglected local orchards. The markets
were also visited several times and many different fruits examined. About
six different varieties of bananas were on the stalls, a thick red-coloured one
being the best* flavoured ; many different kinds of tomatoes ; chillies, and a
coarse-looking Cape gooseberry was abundant ; three kinds of prickly-pear
fruits ; and the leaves of another opuntia, from which the spines were cut
with a sharp knife and sold for food ; the apples and oranges were of very
poor quality. A great quantity of different kinds of squashes were there,
but no watermelons ; one kind of pumpkin is perforated with small holes and
boiled in sugar. Many stalls dealt in sugar-cane for eating ; the cane is
brought into the market on muleback and the market-women chop it up into
short lengths. This cane is only grown for eating and is called the Cana de
Castilla, the crushing cane for sugar as known being Purple Cane (Cana
morada).

The vegetables were very plentiful ; a great variety of yams, and also, Irish
potatoes, in contradistinction to sweet potatoes ; these are seldom grown to
maturity, and are sold in. little wooden platters containing about half a dozen
in each platter.

Probably the most curious of the many curious foods on sale in this market
were the bags of water-bug eggs, about the size of dust shot. They are
obtained in the canals round the city by sinking sheets of matting under
water, upon which the eggs are laid in millions. The matting is then shaken
over a sheet and all the eggs gathered. These are dried and placed in sacks
and sold at so much a pound ; they are known as " ahuahutl," and are made
into cakes and eaten.

[Photo, by C. B. Waite, Mexico.

Drawing off the Juice of the flower-stem of the Argave ainericana, which is collected anl fermented
to make Pulque, the nat'ona! drink in Mexico.

23

There are also large quantities of two species of water-bugs sold in the
same manner in the markets. They are collected like shrimps, with nets, in
the swamps and marshes ; but they are sold to feed the mocking birds, the
common cage bird in the Mexican home. Another interesting insect is a,
black fly (Ephydra /dans), the larvae of which swarm in such quantities in
the waters of Lake Texcoa, that when they pupate, the pupae are collected
in bags and used as manure to fertilise the adjoining lands. At certain
seasons, these flies swarm out in such clouds that they cover the railway track
and stop the trains.

Another curious insect food is the caterpillar of a Hesperid butterfly,
which lays her eggs upon the leaves of the Argave americana. These cater-
pillars burrow into and feed in the tissue of the leaf, and are cut out, placed
in little boxes made out of a section of the thick leaf, and sold as a great
delicacy. , There were many different kinds of native and tropical fruits —
aninas, sapotes, alligator pears, long-stalked pink passion fruit of very poor
quality, called a granada, and many other curious things. While in the
offices I obtained the following reports, somewhat behind-hand as statistics,
but the latest compiled, of the different products of Mexico up to 1900 :—
The maize crop of that year was worth 87,000,000 Mexican dollars (value,
2s.) ; the barley crop, worth 7,000,000 dollars. In 1899, the coffee crop,
chiefly grown in the Vera Cruz district, was worth 10,000,000 dollars. In
1900, nearly 7,000,000 dollars' worth of pulque was produced from the Argave
americana ; but in the good season of 18U9, 15,000,000 dollars' worth was
made. Thousands of acres of the country are devoted to the growth of this
aloe, from which the sap of the budding flower-stem is collected, and after
being carried down the hills in pig skins, is fermented in casks. This pulque
is the national drink of the bulk of the Mexicans. Besides pulque, there is
also a strong spirit made from this juice, which is valued at over 4,000,000
dollars a year.

The sugar crop was valued at 23,500,000 dollars. At Gutapella Estate,
noar Orizaba, later on, I saw them making sugar. The machinery and
crushing plant were very old-fashioned, and all the sugar turned out was
made in conical loaves, weighing 18 kilos each (45 Ib.) ; these loaves, in three
grades, were more or less grey to brown in tinf, and valued at from 12 to-
16 cents per kilo. They also made a very strong spirit from the sugar at
this mill.

The cotton of Mexico is grown in a strip of country across the cfntre, in
the districts of Coahuila, Durango, and Tepic. At Puebla, and some of the
Southern States, cotton was started a few years ago, but in consequence of
the appearance of the cotton boll weevil, it was not continued. The Depart-
ment have no laws or regulations against this pest, except a quarantine
against any seed from Texas.

At Ameciameca, in the gardens round the palace at Chapultepec, the
different public parks, Tres Marias, Tlalpam, and Guardaloupe, I spent some
time with Professor Koebele studying scale insects and other pests.

Among the interesting desert plants that came under my notice was the
rubber plant, known to the native as the " Guayule " (Parthenium argen-
tatum) ; it is a stunted little shrub that grows in the northern deserts, and
is collected for the large amount of rubber contained in the bark. The shrubs
are pulled up, roots and all, tied up in bundles, and packed down on mules to
the nearest railway station, and shipped to the United States, where the
rubber is extracted. The Americans are exploiting the country, and with
this wasteful method (as the guayule is a very slow-growing shrub) the
product will soon be exhausted. Another is the G:ant Cactu?, which, growing

out of the rocks, looks, with ics truncate summit, like a beer barrel in shape
and size. This cactus saves the lives of many mules and muleteers, who, in
the waterless desert, cut the top off the cactus with their sword-knives
(machete) and pound up the pulpy interior, which is then squeezed up, and
•enough watery juice obtained to supply the party.

On 15th November I left Mexico City for Puebla, reaching there late in the
afternoon, when I engaged an interpreter and went over the extensive
markets. Next morning I called upon the Governor at the Palace, and met
the Secretary of State, who gave me a letter to the chief of the Department,
Pomento, and then went on to the President of the University of the State,
where we went over the museum collections, and examined a local collection
of insects, made by the officer in charge. He had a very fine collection of
models of fruits and vegetables among the botanical specimens.

Armed with a letter to the Governor of Tchuacan, we left at 5-30 a.m. on
Sunday morning, and reached the town about four hours later. The country
was very mixed ; patches of good land, irrigated from the mountains, and
then desert limestone covered with cacti and low scrub. Met Signor Alberto
Dias Cebullos, one of the largest landed proprietors in the district ; he grows
a large quantity of maize and barley, and, with irrigation, can pet two crops
a year. A white ground grub (probably a lamellicorn beetle larva) is very
prevalent every few years ; sometimes it destroys two-thirds of the crops by
eating the roots. What is known as a fungous disease of the tassels of the
maize, " Wicheley," aborts them into a white mass, which is cut off and eaten
by the farmers. In the dry country the gophers (ground rats) do a great
<leal of damage, but cannot Jive in irrigated country. Large quantities of
white cbillif s are grown here, and suffer very much from the attacks of a small
weevil that punctures and spoils the crop.

From Puebla to Orizaba, after leaving the junction at Apizaco, we came
through the great valley or plain surrounded with hills, to Esperanza, covered
with homesteads and fields of barley. It had all just been reaped, and was
made into immense stacks 4 to 6 feet in height, and from SOO to 400 yards in
length, looking like ramparts of sheaves. After crossing the great mountain
range, we came into the tropical orchards round the town of Nogalis, and on
to Orizaba. Here I called upon the Governor, where his secretary gave me
letters to the managers of the two largest plantations in the district. Going
through th^ extensive fruit markets, I first saw mandarin oranges in th;s
country. There was also a very thin-skinned hybrid, or sweet lemon, with
a, very small nipple ; but it had a very poor flavour. There were large quan-
tities of very poor quality tomatoes and Cape gooseberries on the stalls.

.At the San Antino Estate I went through the coffee plantation, which was
in a very neglected condition, though the trees had a very good crop ; and
then into the orchard, where there were a great number of oranges. I
examined a great number of fallen fruits, but did not find any maggots,
though it was just the place for them if there were any in the neighbourhood.
Melanose was the only disease from which they were suffering ; scales
apparently did not thrive in the moist, humid climate. At Galupebla there
was another orange plantation under similar conditions, and on the opposite
-iflc of the town I went over a tangled growth of orchard belonging to a
Mexican lady, where there were a great number of different trees growing.
Among them was a very curious mandarin tree, with short, sessile, stiff leaves,
almost like a holly-bush, the fruit being remarkably good.

The next day went on to Vera Cruz, through rich, tropical country, with
many coffee plantations along the line, most of the coffee being grown under

25

the shelter of large trees. In all the valleys there were banana plantations.
As we came nearer to the coast the country changed into sandy flats, covered
with low jungle and clumps of cocoa-nut palms. As soon as I arrived at
Vera Cruz I called upon the Governor. Signor Velo, who advised me to visit
thr southern part of Mexico, and offered to give me a letter to his brother,
who had a large ranch-farm and orchard near the town of Coatxacualus,
about 100 miles down the coast by steamer.

After making arrangements for a passage across to Havana the following
mail boat, seeing the British Consul, tkc., I left the next day for Coatxacualus,
and reached my destination on the following afternoon. Engaged ah Indian
to take me up to Signor Ignacio Yelo's in his canoe. We started off at once,
and, after some miles' paddling across the lagoons, and several miles' tramp
through black mud and water, reached the homestead. I found that all the
oranges in the orchard were seedlings, and one of the largest and finest
produced fruit as sour as vinegar. The soil was so rich and moist, that
many orange-trees were propagated by simply cutting out a large sucker,
and, after trimming it and cutting off the top, driving it into the ground like
a stake.

The oranges were «athered in a very primitive manner — either by climbing
up a long notched pole resting against the tree, or by twisting off each fruit
with a long, slender pole, with a fork at the tip. Though there were a great
number of oranges lying about under the trees, I could find no traces of fnrit-
fly mai^'oN. si^nor Velo has about • 6,000 acres of land. On part of this
he runs a herd of about 500 head of cattle, and supplies the town with milk.
On the swamp land he grows corral-grass, which he cuts and supplies as
green fodder for the nil way contractors' horses. In the plantation he has
vanilla growing, some coffee, which is dried and used on the ranch, and
about 700 cocoa-nut trees. About thirty peons and their families live on the
estate.

One of the greatest pests on the plantations in Mexico, Cuba, Central
America, and Trinidad is the leaf-cutting ant, known as the " Bibijagau,"
pronounced " Bebehowie " ( Atta inbular'i* and Atta cephalotis). They form
great underground chambers at the bottom of vertical shafts, often 8 feet in
depth, in which they store the fragments of leaves that they cut off the trees.
These nests are close together, and the excavated earth from beneath forms
great mounds, with many openings. From these openings regular armies of
these ants march out, and in the course of a few hours strip every leaf off an
orange-tree. If in the vicinity of a vegetable garden, they reduce it to an
ashheap in a very short time if once they become established, and the garden
must be carefully watched. It is a most remarkable sight to come across a
returning army of these large ants marching back to their nest, each with a
more or less rounded fragment of leaf held by the jaws over the back, almost
hiding the carrier underneath.

The chief methods of getting rid of these ants is, first, setting to work and
digging then right out. At the Agricultural Experiment Station, in Santiago
de Vegas (Cuba), the officers used sulphur pumps ; but an orchardist said that
the most successful mixture he found was boiling tar and sulphur together,
and pouring the mixture down the openings leading into the nests. The
ants accumulate leaves in these semicircular burrows until they ferment and
produce a fungous growth upon which they and their larvae feed. The Legis-
lative Council of Trinidad passed an ordinance which enabled the Governor
to declare certain districts infested with this pest, to enable planters to take
measures for their destruction.

26

Returning to Coatxacualus, I took the train crossing the isthmus to the
town of San Lucrecia, situated in the centre of a great marshy district,
where, down the river, there are a number of American companies starting
sugar plantations. From San Lucrecia I caught the branch train that started
for Cordoba at 5 a.m., and reached Vera Cruz at dark the same day, travelling
across a great deal of low, marshy land.

I left Yera Cruz on 28th November for Habana, Cuba. When coming on
board I noticed a large number of cattle and horses on board. The cattle
were smothered with the blood-sucking Horn Fly ; and apparently a consider-
able number came on with them, and reached Cuba in due course. Two days
out we spent a very unpleasant day at anchor off the low lying town of
Progresso Yucatan. This is the chief port for the export of the sisal hemp,
the fibre of the aloe Argave rigida. We shipped some hundreds of bales, and
a quantity of tickory, the gum of one of the Sapotacea, which is collected by a
syndicate over a very large portion of Yucatan, and shipped to New York,
where it is used as the chief ingredient in the manufacture of American chewing
gum. On the 2nd December arrived at Cuba, and, as soon as I had landed,
went to see the British Consul. He informed me that Jamaica had a strict
quarantine against Cuba for yellow fever, and it was also probable that, after
the recent outbreak of yellow fever at Barbados, no ship would call there.
From there went to the Government offices, and called upon the Under
Secretary of Agriculture, who gave me a letter to the Director of the
Agricultural Experiment Station at Santiago de Vegas, and others to the
Museum. At the Experiment Station, about 10 miles out from Habana, I
met Mr. Crawley (the Director), who introduced me to his staff. Messrs.
Home and Howser went over the collections and pests in their orchards
with me. No fruit-fly is recorded from the Cuban orchards, but there are
several destructive orchard pests, among which may be noted the Orange
Weevil, which feeds upon the foliage of the orange, and lays its eggs upon
the leaves, which it curls over and gums together, just like our Laptops hopei,
the apple-root weevil. The larvae feed upon the roots, and often kill the
trees. This handsome green weevil ( Pachncsus curescens) is a native species,
and is quite common in both field and forest. Among the most common
scale insects of the orange is a very large lecanid (Lecanium, sp.?), which
attacks the bark and injures it in much the same manner as woolly-blight
damages our apple-trees. Two others, purple and long scale, are common.
Melanose is very prevalent in all the citrus orchards. I examined some of the
oranges and grape fruit having the sheltered half almost ink black, but it did
not appear to injure the quality of the fruit. Most of the citrus trees have
been brought from Florida, and are grafted on the wild sour orange that
grows in the forest. Besides the tangarines (as mandarins are known
throughout the West Indies) the most profitable fruit is a pomolo, known as
the "grape fruit." It differs from our pomolo in having a much finer skin,
and only the slightest bitter taste. Two varieties are grown here. The
Royal, which is the original Cuban type, is small, but with a fine skin and
excellent flavour ; the larger one has been introduced from Florida, where
immense numbers are grown, for it is the most popular of breakfast fruits,
eaten with sugar, in the United States. At the time of my visit they were
bringing about 4 dollars a case, and in some of the fashionable hotels in New
York and Boston, they charge from 50 to 75 cents for one for breakfast.
Altogether there is about 400 acres of orchard (chiefly citrus) within a few
miles of the Experiment Station, most of it in the hands of Americans.

The growing of tobacco is one of the important industries of this part of
Cuba, and one of the most valuable ; and though it requires a lot of attention

[Photo, by J. W. Cleary.

A Native's Hut and Banana Plantation in Jamaica, W.I.
The greater portion of the eighteen million bunches exported last year (1907) are trrown in this manner.

27

and watering, nearly all the natives grow some tobacco, and several firms
have large areas under cultivation. The most valuable tobacco, the
wrapper leaf, is often grown under shade, or covered with cheese cloth, as it
is thus protected from hawk-moth larva, and, also, the breaking of the direct
rays of the sun keeps the ground moist for a much longer time after watering,
so that the growth is much more vigorous than when grown in the open.
At Messrs. Sylvester, Stein, & Co. 's plantation there were 30 acres of wrapper-
leaf tobacco growing under cheese cloth, over regular posts and wire supports
about 8 feet in height, and all the doors were covered with the same material,
so that it was a perfect enclosure. All this is carefully watered, and each
leaf dried separately, hung over poles in the tobacco house, and dried without
artificial heat. Mr. Home informed me that each plant was estimated to be
worth 10 cents. Water is obtained from wells, but has to be pumped up
about 80 feet all over this district.

There are cocoa nut palms growing in most parts of the island, but the larger
plantations are in the south. One of the most serious troubles of the cocoa-nut
palm is a bacterial disease, known as the " bud rot disease "; it attacks old
trees and very young ones, and when once infected the tree soon dies. It is
a well-known disease in many of the West Indian islands. There is a very
large water bug (fielostoma, sp.), which is very common in .the lagoons and
waterholes ; in the summer months it comes flying round the 1'ght and the
lamps in the houses at night. For some unknown reason the natives believe
that this bug is the cause of " bud rot " in the cocoa-nut palms.

There are many large sugar plantations in different parts of Cuba, and
though during the many years of civil war numbers went out of cultivation,
and the old mills fell into decay, during latter years some large areas have
been planted. I visited one of the older plantations at Giiines, La Provi-
dencia, where they have been growing sugar-cane for the last hundred years
without any fertilisers. This plantation is one of the largest of the old
plantations, and is worked on the old Cuban plan with colonos. The cane
land is let to farmers — colonos — who till the land, plant and cut the cane,
and after it is crushed, are paid in sugar as their share of the produce. This
estate consists of 800 caballarias (33J acres to a caballaria), or about 26,300
acres. Most of the cane is allowed to grow from eight to ten years without
replanting, and the percentage of sugar in the juice ranges from 9 to 12J-
per cent.

At the invitation of the manager of the United Fruit Company, I went
from Santiago de Cuba to Banis, where the company have a sugar plantation,
worked on modern plans, of about 20,000 acres of cane, 60 miles of permanent
railway lines, and an up-to-date mill. Chilperic, the adjoining estate, has
40,000 acres of sugar-cane. The country is very flat, chiefly black soil, and was
originally covered with a dense forest. The company first started this estate
to grow bananas for export to the States, but for some undiscovered reason
bananas would not thrive, so they placed it under cane. The average rainfall
is 60 inches, but last year only 23 inches had fallen, and the whole district
was suffering from the drought. They estimated their sugar crop at about
30,000 tons of sugar, all of which is snipped dirrct from Banis to New York,
New Orleans, and Baltimore. There are also some large sugar plantations,
in the Cienfugeos district.

At the town of Giiines, which I visited with Mr. Home (Pathologist at
the Experiment Station) we went over the great centre of the vegetable-
growing industry, under irrigation from a large river that comes directly out
of a limestone hill, and the water from which is carried in channels all over
the rich black soil. An immense number of tomatoes are grown here by the

28

Cuban farmers, who sell them at the packing-sheds in the town. The
American packers buy them by the bushel, at about 1 to 1 J dollars at this
time of the year, and the tomato season lasts from May to .December. The
tomatoes are green and hard when gathered, and graded into three qualities ;
each is wrapped in paper and packed in two rows of punks, separated by a
thin wooden frame. These crates are all imported from Florida. All these
tomatoes are sent to the large towns of the United States.

There aro hardly any insect pests upon the tomatoes, and the only fungus
is one that causes discoloured black patches on the underside of the fruit,
which is said to be only found when the tomatoes rest too long on the wet
ground, Besides the tomatoes, great quantities of onions, cabbages, and
green peppers are grown on this rich land.

At the Agricultural Experiment Station I made an interesting collection
of the insects and pests of Cuba. Dr. Mayo, in charge of the Stock Division,
gave me some interesting information regarding the stock diseases in Cuba.
One of the worst is thrush, which attacks the frog of the forefeet of both
mules and horses, and causes them to rot. Their chief treatment is dressing
them with creolino or carbolic, and packing the damaged tissue. Tetanus is
also very common all over Cuba, and attacks both man and animals. In
many of the smaller towns the children run about naked up to 5 or 6 years
old, except that they all weir some kind of boots for fear of lockjaw. Mules
and horses often contract tetanus from injuring their feet. The treatment
for stock is strychnine. and rest. Several species of tick are common on
cattle, but do n'jt affect the horses. Fowl Tick (Argas Americanus) is common
in many fowlhouses, and we found specimens in the fowl roosts at the Experi-
ment Station.

There is no regular museum in Habana, but through the kindness of the
Secretary of Agriculture, who gave me a letter of introduction to the Director
of the Institute de Secunda Ensenanza di la Habana (the High' School and
College), I was able to examine the Gundlach Collection of Zoology. This
fine collection of the zoology of Cuba was made by Dr. Gundlach, in 1839.
The insect?, pinned in small glass-topped boxes that have been carefully
sealed, are in excellent preservation, and the great collection of land shells
is very fine. I also visited Belen Church, where there is a very large
Catholic school, to see one of the priests, who had charge of a collection
belonging to the school, but he was away and the collection shut up till his
return.

I also visited the fruit markets in Habana, where a great number of
bananas are sold, many of the bunches getting quite black before they are
eaten. Purple scale was common on the orange*, and both in the markets
and street-stalls oranges were usually peeled before they were sold, a thing I
jnever saw anywhere else.

Great quantities of chillies, green peppers, and onions are in all the Cuban
markets.

I left Santiago de Cuba for Jamaica on 23rd December, in the s.s. " Oteri,"
and early in the morning was insight of Port Royal, landing about 10 o'clock
at Jamestown. As it was Christmas Eve, I could not find anybody in their
office for the next two days ; but as soon as the Government offices were
opened, I called upon the Colonial Secretary, who gave me letters to the Hon.
J. Faucett, Director of the Botanic Gardens and adviser on agricultural
matters, and also arranged for me to get a free pa<-s on the railways while in
Jamaica. To Mr. Faucett I am indebted for a great deal of valuable infor-
mation about the products and pests in Jamaica. Since 1901, fumigation of
all imported plants has been enforced under a proclamation of the Act of

.[Photo, by J. W. deary.

Collecting the Bananas at Port Antonio, Jamaica,*W.L, for export to the]United States.

29

1SS4-, Seeds and Plants Importation Law, first brought into existence to
deal with the coffee leaf disease of Ceylon. A portion of this Act has since been
modified to allow the authorities to fumigate plants with hydrocyanic acid gas
for fungous diseases. There are six of these fumigators in use at the Botanic
Gardens, wharves, and Post Office. In the Hope Gardens was planted one of
the original bread-fruit trees obtained by Captain Bligh, and from it great
quantities of bread-fruit have been planted all over the island ; and bread-
fruit is one of the foods of Jamaica. A fine collection of Algerian date palms
are growing in the gardens, but the foliage suffers much from a leaf rust
(Puccinum phenocia*). Cocoanut bud rot disease is common in the planta-
tions, generally starting on the flower bud and then extending to the terminal
leaf bud ; prompt spraying with strong Bordeaux mixture is said to check it

Experiments are being carried out in growing vanilla, and with ordinary
care it do?s very well. The Seychelles Islands, some years ago, were the
centre of this valuable industry, but a leaf fungous disease broke out and
destroyed all the plants.

As in every place, the cultivation of cotton has been pushed along the last
few .years, but in consequence of the cotton moth Aletia argillacea doing so
much damage to a large experiment plot planted last year, the industry had a
serious set back.

Mr. Faucett also gave me some reports and information regarding the fruit-
fly in Bermuda, and the methods adopted to get rid of it in that country ;
those will appear in my report upon the Fruit Flies. Mr. Faucett gave me
introductions to several of the leading planters indifferent parts of the island,
and on the following afternoon I left by train for Port Antonio, the head-
quarters of the United Fruit Company, which controls the whole of the banana
trade, one of the most important industries in the island. The greater part
of the fruit is grown by the negroes, who sell them to the agents of the Com-
pany. In 1906, 16,000,000 bunches of bananas were shipped from Jamaica,
nearly all of which went into the United States. Each bunch consists of
from twelvo to nine hands ; anything under nine hands is called a half-
bunch. In the season, four or five boats load up with bananas every week
from Port Antonio, and the estimated value of the banana was nearly
XI, 000,000. Sulphate of ammonia is used by the large growers as a fertiliser
for bananas.

At the Hon. H. Cork's estate, at Burlington, I saw his plantations of
cocoa-nut palms, just recovering after the great hurricane of 1903, when nearly
all the old palms were destroyed. Mr. Cork lost the best part of 24 acres of
full-bearing trees. This is one of the most profitable crops grown, cocoanuts
being worth up to 11s. p?r hundred. Last season 11,000.000 cocoa-nuts were
exported, at an average valae of 8s. per hundred. From Burlington I took
the train to Bog Walk, and the following morning left for Ewarton and
coachrd across the range to the Hon. J. V. Calder's estate, at Worthy Park.
Here I went over one of the oldest plantations on the island, where all kinds
of different tropical crops are grown.

A considerable amount of cocoa is grown here, and I spent the greater part
of the hfrernoon riding through the cocoa plantation. The cocoa tree, for
the first two or three years of its life, is a very delicate tree, but when once
established, is very hmlv. Tt is, however, subject to some serious diseases,
the worst among which is canker. This commences as a blister on the trunk,
or main branches ; a quantity of gum accumulates under the blister, and the
bark decays ; the treatment is to cut away all the diseased bark and paint
the wound with a mixture of tar and fish oil. BUck rot attacks the pods,
and if they are not cut off it spiv ids into the growing wood, from which the

30

flowering buds develop, and thus, if not taken in time, will cause the flower
spurs to die out and spoil the next year's crop. Thrips is an insect pest that
develops among the foliage, and then attacks the pods, causing them to abort
and wither, so that half the pods will have no seeds. The rats sometimes do
a great deal of damage to the cocoa by gnawing holes in the pods to get at
the seeds ; and several of the woodpeckers have learnt how to drill holes into
the pods and extract the seeds.

The trees are planted from 12 to 18 feet apart, and should be grown under
shade for the first five years at least. At ten years old they can shade them-
selves, but among the planters there is a great amount of controversy and
argument as to whether these trees should be grown in shade or in the open.
They bear flowers, which spring directly from the trunk or main branches,
when eighteen months old ; there are always an immense number of pods that
never reach maturity, as nature throws off the superfluous ones. The pods,
when full grown, are cut off and the beans shelled, fermented in a vat, then
taken out and spread on a drying-roof ; from this they are taken and placed
in a cylindrical drum or roaster through which hot air is forced, and thus dried,
they are ready for market. All the plantation negroes are paid by piece-work,
and the average wages are about Is. 6d. per day. The cocoa crop of the
West Indies in 1905-6 was valued at £1,500,000. It is the sole crop of
Granada, in Trinadad ; it is worth more than double the output of sugar, and
is grown in St. Lucia, Dominica, and St. Vincent. The average yield in
Granada is 4 bags of 196 Ib. per acre, or equal to 784 Ib. per acre. In 1906-7
the quantity of cocoa exported from Jamaica was 50,057 cwt., valued at
£190,216. At Worthy Park there is a considerable acreage under sugar-
cane, some of which is crushed for sugar, though all the profits come from the
distillation of rum. Mr. Cdlder crushes about 500 tons of sugar every
season.

From E wart on I went down to Spanish Town by train, and then took a
coach to the Hartlands Fruit Company Estate. Here the manager, Mr.
Wigens, has 190 acres of citrus trees, grape fruit, mandarins, and oranges.
Among the latter are Washington Navels, though they consider the Bahia
Navel is a sweeter fruit. The King orange is a very coarse, rough-skinned
fruit, like a small rounded mandarin, and though an orange it tastes like a,
mandarin, and is said to have been introduced from Florida. The grape
fruit pays best of all his crops, and he is now shipping a good number to the
London markets. This country is very flat, heavy land, and was originally
planted with bananas, but the soil did not suit them. The trees appear to
be planted rather low in the ground and suffer a good deal from collar rot,
which not only attacks the base of the stem but also often high up on the
side of the trunk. This they treat with tar and fish oil, or Jay's Fluid, after
cutting off the diseased bark.

There was no red scale, but Aspidiotus cilri and Aspidiotus fid were
common on the trees and fruit. Melanose disfigured a great deal of the f ruit,.
but was not looked upon as a pest, for the English buyers do not take any
)t;ce of !»-, as long as the fruit is well grown. Last year Jamaica exported
32,00 ) packages (Florida cases) of grape fruit worth 6s. a package and
55,000 oranges, worth about 2s. 6d. per hundred.

From Hartlands I went on to Montego Bay on the north end of the island,
and another port where bananas and other fruit are sent on to America.
Stopping on the road at Mandeville, I saw quantities of the large scarlet loose-
skinned mandarin that is peculiar to that district, and is known as the,
.Mandeville mandarin.

[Pfwto by J. L Madura, jnr.

New Quarters, with wire gauze to protect the American workmen against the fever mosquitoes
Pedro Miguel, Panama Canal.

81

I returned to Kingston on the 2nd of January, and took my passage to
Barbados, for which I left the following day, meeting on the steamer
Messrs. Williams, Faucett, and Savage, the three delegates to the Imperial
Agricultural Conference to be held in Barbados on the 14th. We arrived at
Colon, on the Panama Canal, on the 6th, stopping there two days, one of which
I spent at Colon and Panama markets, where the most striking commodities
were the number of yams, Jamaica mandarins, Martinique bananas, and the
small yellow thick -set banana, known as the Chinese banana.

On the 1 3th we anchored off Trinidad, where we were under strict quaran-
tine with the shore, for a number of people had died from yellow fever only
a few days before, and Trinidad was plague-stricken. The following morning
we sighted Barbados, and anchored off Bridgetown at 2 o'clock. The
delegates from Jamaica introduced me to the officers of the Agricultural
Conference, who very kindly placed me on the same footing as the official
delegates, and when I went ashore with them met the Imperial Commissioner,
Sir Daniel Morris, who, next morning, had me elected an honorary member
of the Conference, with all their privileges.

At this Conference I was enabled to meet the leading officials from all the
West Indian islands and British Guiana, and could learn what it would have
taken me months to do if I had had to travel over the islands. From the 15th
to the 20th instant I attended all the meetings of the Conference at Bridge-
town, and at the request of the Chairman gave an address to the members
on our work in Australia.

Here I met Mr. H. A. Ballou, Entomologist to the Imperial Department
of Agriculture of the West Indies, and we went into the question of cosmo-
politan insect pests, the diseases of plants, and the value of parasites.
Among some of the interesting problems dealt with at the Conference, the
following might be noted : — Barbados is noted for its experimental work in
seedlings of sugar-cane, and 25 plantations have an acre set aside as an
experimental plot for seedlings. The crushing of the cane till recently has
been done after the old fashion, with windmills, and I was informed that at
present nearly 75 per cent, of the cane is still crushed with vertical or
horizontal rollers worked by windmills. Several companies have now started
on a co-operative basis, and are installing modern machinery at Carrington
and Bulkley sugar mills. The growing of cotton is one of the most flourish-
ing industries in Barbados, as they can grow the best Sea-island vaiieties,
worth from Is. 6d. to 2s. 6d. per Ib. Nearly 7,000 acres are now under
cultivation, estimated to be worth £120,000. A co operative cotton factory
was opened in 1903 and completed in 1907. The management buy anything
from 100 Ib., gin and bale it in 500 Ib. bales. They claim that this is the
largest Sea-island cotton mill in the world. There is a considerable acreage
of cotton at the islands of St. Vincent, Montserrat, Nevis, and Anguilla,
where it is a, very valuable crop, but at Demerara and Trinidad it will not
thrive.

The pests of cotton are numerous. Four different moth caterpillars attack
the crop; the two cotton worms, Aletia argillacea and Aletiu, lusidula, are
common species; while the cosmopolitan boll moth, Heliothis armiger and
Laphygmi fruyiprrda, attack the cotton bolls. Egg parasites at tack the first
two, but are never in sufficient numbers to do much good. The general
treatment is to use Paris green dry, in bags of ticklingburg, dusting it over
the foliage. They also use tin shakers and powder guns, but have not tried
liquid sprays or spray pumps. Several of the large paper-nest wasps
(Polistes, sp.), popularly kno'.vn in the West Indies as " Jack Spaniards,"
and aground C-irab beetle (Calasoma, sp.), are known to ki 1 a good number

32

of these caterpillars. The Colton Aphis (Aphis gossypii), another cosmopolitan
pest, is one of the worst enemies of the cotton-plant and difficult to deal with.
There is a leaf-blister mite forming galls upon the leaves, and Lecanium nigrum
is a common scale upon cotton. The Red Maggot lives in clusters under the
bark of the stems of the plant, which, however, has been first damaged with
a bacterial disease known as " Brown Elbow," so that it may possibly not be a
pest in the strict sense of the word, though always found in damaged t'ssue ;
it is the larva of a Cecidomyia fly (Porricondyla (JSpidoni*) gossypii], or gall-gnat.
There is a second Cecidomyia which has recently appeared in Antigua.
This species lays her eggs in the flowers of the cotton-plant, causing them to
wilt and drop off, presumably from the larvae feeding upon the pollen.
There is also a form of Anthracnose, which sometimes does a great deal of
harm to the cotton bolls.

In British Guiana a considerable quantity of swamp rice is grown. Last
year 30,000 tons of rice were harvested, much of which were exported to the
other West Indian islands.

At the Conference very little information was available of the commercial
value of West Indian rubber. In the President's address he stated that
thirty-three estates were planting rubber, and it was estimated that 300,000
trees had been planted ; that Castilloa scrap rubber brought 3s. 2d. per Ib.
and sheet rubber 4s. 3d., but that grown in Tobago realised up to 5s.
Ten of the estates were planting Para rubber (Hevea) and Lagos silk rubber
(Funtumia). In Demerara they are planting both Hevea brasiliensis and
Castilloa elastica. In Jamaica I found them planting Castilloa as shade
trees for the cacoa, and in St. Lucia and Dominica it is used in the same way.

At the island of Montserrat, famous for its lime-juice all over the world,
one company has a plantation of 2,000 acres of limes, where they manufacture
lime-juice and citrate of lime. Lime products to the value of £6,883 were
exported last year. Dominica also does a very large trade in lime-juice.

Chionaspis citri is a very destructive scale insect on the citrus trees in
these islands ; and as lime-trees are very thorny, and are planted close
together on often very rough land, the growers say that it is impossible to
either spray or fumigate at a profit. The question of parasites to destroy
this and other scale insects was brought up at the Conference, and many
questions were asked. One planter has a remarkable remedy or preventative
for this scale, which is to plant Bengal beans in his orchard, and allow them
to climb all over the tops of the trees; and, according to the planter, no
scale could be found on these trees. But other delegates doubted very much
whether there would be any fruit on trees grown under such conditions.

The only island where tobacco is grown to any extent is Jamaica. Last
year £21,809 worth ot tobacco leaf and cigars was exported; but there is
also a very large local consumption. One of the sights of the Jamestown
market is the tobacco stalls, where great balls of tobacco, made up into rope-
like cables, are sold to the negroes.

^ liile the Conference was at work we visited a number of estates, and
after its business was concluded, and the delegates had returned home, I
made several trips over the island with Mr. Bovell, the Director of Agricul-
ture, and Mr. Ballou, the entomologist. All the work in the West Indies is
done by negroes, men and women working alike in the fields and plantations,,
while on the mainland, at Demerara, all the labour is done by imported
Indian coolies; and there are 71,000 on the plantations, and 63,000 at other
work.

[Photo, by J. W. Cleary.

Type of the Sugar Mills on the Sugar Estates in Jamaica, West Indies.

33

At midnight on the 28th of January I left Barbados for Southampton,
and arrived there on the night of 9th of the following month. On the
following morning I called upon Mr. Coghlan, at our Agent-General's office,
and asked if there had been any instructions sent for me from any of the
Australian States I was representing, and on the next morning called upon
thr Agents-General of Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia.

-My next work was to get into touch with the authorities at the Natural
History Museum, at Cromwell-road ; and, after meeting Messrs. Waterhouse
and Ivirby, who took me all over the offices and introduced me to the staff, I
set to work and examined many of the economic collections. With Mr.
Austin (in charge of the Diptera) I hunted through the fruit flies and other
injurious species, but found few named specimens of our particular fruit pests.
Whenever not otherwise engaged, I spent my time at the entomological
rooms of the Museum, examining specimens and making notes on the collec-
tions ; and each officer on the staff gave me every help in his power. With
Mr. Roland Turner and Colonel Bingham I went through some of the
hymenoptera. Mr. Distant showed me many of the unique forms of
Australian cicadas in the collections, Mr. Kirby looked up the locusts and
grasshoppers, and Mr. Gahan the beetles.

At Wye Agricultural College, in Kent, I spent a day with Mr. Theobald,
the Principal. He is one of the leading authorities on the Mosquitoes, and
lias published the two Economic Entomology reports in the British Museum.
He took me through the laboratories and buildings, and then over the farm
and orchard. Here they have a large dairy, but the cows under shelter did
not look so happy as ours. I noted that they still use underground silos, and
the milking sheds were not up to ours. Some interesting experiments in
testing the value of the different cattle foods were being carried out in the
dairy herd. This being in the hop country, they had an up-to-date outfit for
drying hops with heated air.

The orchard is on poor, chalk land. The pears and apple trees are planted
1 0 feet apart, pruned low, and looked very well. No blight-proof stocks are
used in English orchard?, and in consequence, in all the old orchards, American
blight or Woolly Aphis is common, both upon the roots and branches. Most
of their trees are grafted upon Paradise stocks. Paraffin (low illuminating
oil, worth 4d. per gallon), mixed with fish oil and caustic soda, is the chief
wash used in this orchard. One of the worst insect pests of the pear is "the
Pear-bud Fly ( Diphnt^ SP-)? which lays her eggs in the calyx of the freshly-
formed fruit. The little maggot gnaws the tissue, causing them to swell out
and finally drop off. The gooseberry-bud mite is also a serious pest to-
curran's, infesting the buds and causing them to drop off. Canker is very
common in the apple orchards ; and wherever the bark is bruised or damaged,
canker spores infest it, and do more or less damage. The Apple Psylla
( Pitylla mal'i) is another s°rious apple pest, and the Saw Fly larva.' attack the

Mi. Salmon (the mycologist) showed me a number of interesting specimens
of fungous diseases. Among the serious pests of the potato he pointed out
"Blark S-aV (Ckrytopklyctis endobiotiea, Schilb.), that was only introduced
into England about 1*95, and has now spread over nine counties of England
and Scotland. It could be very easily introduced into Australia with seed
potatoes.

American Gooseberry Mildew (SpJtf roth^rn ?m>/-,s>//v/, Bull.) is a well-known

] x-sf in America, and is said to have been introduced into the gooseberry orchards

<>f Kn^'land about ci^ht y»«irs ago. In that time it has spread all over

England and Ireland, and has appeared in different parts of the Continent.

§39557 B

34

It should be famous, for it has been the cause of the British Board of
Agriculture passing the first Vegetation Diseases Act into law, in order to
deal with this pest. Notices under tMs Act have been posted up all over
the country districts, calling attention to the danger of it spreading, and the
means to check it.

At Watford, at the request of Mr. F. Cooper, I visited his laboratories,
and saw his methods of working out the life histories of the different species
of cattle ticks, and his apparatus for making micro-photographs from the tick
itself. The main laboratories of Messrs. Cooper and Son are at Berkhampstead,
but I was unable to accept their kind invitation to visit them.

I spent two days in Liverpool with Mr. Robert Newstead, who is the
best known economic entomologist in England, and is in charge of the
very important entomological investigations at the Liverpool Tropical
School of Medicine, attached to the Liverpool University. The medical
side of entomology was demonstrated a good many 3 ears ago, when it
was proved by Professor Grassi in Rome, Major D. Ross in Africa, and
several other investigators along the same line*, that mosquitoes had the
power, when biting people, of leaving behind in the blood a micro-organism
that, multiplying with marvellous rapidity, disorganised the blood to such an
extent that it brought about malarial fever. These discoveries opened an
immense field of original research ; and it is now proved beyond a doubt that
all the malarial fevers and the dreaded yellow fever, that bugbear of the West
Indies and South America, are transmitted to man by the bite of mosquitoes.
In many cases the exact species of mosquito is known, and within the last
ten years thousands of lives have been saved by the practical application of
this -knowledge. Sttgomyia fasciata, the yellow fever mosquito, has been
carefully studied, and its life history ascertained, so that we know where to
look for and destroy it. In the last outbreak in New Orleans, the energetic
methods of destroying all stagnant water and fumigating each room stamped
out the fever in a very short time. In Cuba the same thing has taken
place since the American occupation, and at the Panama Canal, one of the
most deadly places in the world twenty-five years ago, the methods of the
American engineers have now made it one of the healthiest. One of the
important missions of the workers at Liverpool is to discover some means to
deal with the " Sleeping Sickness " of Central Africa, caused in a similar
manner by the bite of a lar#e blood-sucking fly (Glossina pulpalis), a closely-
allied species to the better known " Tsetse Fly," which causes the death of
so much stock in many parts of Africa. The organism carried by this fly is
known as " Trypanosome" and natives attacked by this disease seldom
recover. The disease has been spreading rapidly the last few years, because
if a native comes out of an infested area of sickness, with his blood teeming
with these micro-organisms, he will transmit the disease to this particular
fly if it happens to bite him; while, if in clean district*, not having
imbibed infected blood, it would not be able to reproduce the disease. The
Government officials in some districts have formed a regular quarantine line,
and all natives are carefully examined, and if they show any swelling of the
cervical glands (one of the most certain evidences of the disease), they are not
allowed beyond their own district. Hundreds of thousands of natives have
died in Africa during the last ten years, particularly those living in the low-
lying or swampy lands ; and it appears at present as if the survivors of these
districts will have to be removed to higher lands away from the fly-haunted
swamps, unless some simple method of exterminating the flies can be dis-
covered. The whole trade of Central Africa is disorganised by this

35

insignificant but deadly organism, and the Liverpool merchants have so much
at stake that they are always ready with the necessary funds to assist the
scientific workers in the Tropical School of Medicine. In fact, a movement
was on foot when I was there to raise funds to endow a chair of Economic
Entomology and Zoology, which will be the first of its kind in Great
Britain. Mr. Newstead has very fine laboratories, fitted with all modern.
appliances for dealing with entomological work, and he also gives series of
lectures to the students.

I also visit«d the Tropical School of Medicine of London, with its head-
quarters at Woolwich in conjunction with the Hospital for Seamen. Here I
met Colonel Alcock, late of the Indian Mu-eura at Calcutta. This is not so
well endowed as the Liverpool Tropical School of Medicine, but they have a
fine teaching staff and good laboratories. Meeting the Hon. C. N. Rothschild
in London, I spent a day at their private museum at Tring, going through
his great entomological collections with his curator, Dr. K. Jordan. Here is
a priceless collection of the great bird-winged butterflies (Ornithoptera),
many of which come from North Australia and New Guinea, and the finest
collection of fleas (TulicidcK) in the world, for Mr. Rothschild is the greatest
living authority on fleas at the present time. This is another important
group of insects from an economic and medical point of view, for it has been
proved that fleas infesting a rat affected with bubonic plague can, if it bites
a man, infect him with the organism that is responsible for the plague. It
is also stated on good authority that leprosy can be transmitted in the same
manner by fleas.

Two days were spent at the Hope Zoological Museum at Oxford Uni-
versity, under the charge of Professor Poulton. Here are a great many
types of Australian insects, described by Professors Westwood, Hope, Pascoe,
and other entomologists. Among them is one of the first collections of
Scale insects, started by Westwood. Commander J. J. Walker, R.N , who
was stationed in Sydney some years ago, is an honorary curator in the
Museum, and gave me a great deal of assistance in looking up the West-
wood types. Among these were Wtstwood's original notes on the Medi-
terranean Fruit Flies, I Ted in London, in 1848, and species of Dacus (from
Brazil, Ceylon, and India).

There is also a very interesting collection of Thrips (Black Fly), from
Ceylon, made by Dr. Thwaites, the first Director of the Botanic Gardens at
Peradenyia, Ceylon. Among other interesting economic notes I found
specimens of Icerya purchasi, " The Cottony Cushion Scale," upon the leaves
of acacia, with the following note : *'• The cocci, forming rows with the young
like acari, on the outside of the waxen cover. — J. D. Hooker, Horticultural
Society, March, 1874, South Africa." Now this famous Mealy Bug was not
known as a pest in California till some years after this date, though found
in San Mateo as far back as 1868. In South Africa it had been recorded in
1877, when Professor Trimen mentions he had seen it in 1873, so that these
specimens are probably some of the earliest collected, four years before it
discovered and named in New Zealand.

Another day was spent at the Zoological Museum at Cambridge University,
•with Dr. David Sharp, where there is another important entomological
collection, containing types of Australian insects. Here I found, among an
African collection of Diptera, several unnamed species of fruit-flies, belong-
ing to the genus Dacus. They also had the Cherry Fruit Fly (Rhagolete*
cerasi), bred from fruit in the south of England. At the Agricultural
Branch I met Mr. Biffin, in charge of the botanical work, interested in the

hybridization of wheat. Here also is found the immense collection of
1'ermitidve (White Ants), made by Mr. Haviland, and afterwards worked out
by him and Dr. Sharp,, said to have cost some thousands of pounds to get
together.

Through the kindness of Mr. G. H. Verrall, the well-known British
authority on Diptera (flies), I was enabled to go through his great collection,
which contains the Bigot Collection, bought by him some years ago, and in
which there are a great many types and Australian species. Among these
the fruit-flies were well represented, as Bigot had many specimens from the
east, and I was enabled to make many notes upon species, and the localities
in which they were found.

At the London University, Gower-street, I went over the Zoological
laboratories with Professor J. P. Hill, late of the Sydney University, and
saw their teaching collections. At Nottingham, I met Professor Carr at the
University, where there is an agricultural branch of investigation, and, also,
the Rev. A. Thornly, who is in charge of the nature-study work in all the
schools of several of the midland counties ; and he wanted to know all about
our work and methods in Australia.

I attended a meeting of the Linnean Society of London, and heard a very
interesting paper by Mr. Sutton on the development and origin of the
cultivated potato, with a suggestion that it might be possible to produce a
variety which would withstand the potato blight.

Later on, I attended the monthly meeting of the Entomological Society of
London, where I met a number of the leading British entomologists, and, at
the request of the President, made a few remarks on our work in Australia.

At the request of the Victorian Agent-General (Mr. Taverner) I spent an
.afternoon with Mr. F. H. Middleton, Entomologist and General Adviser to
the Board of Agriculture, who was rather despondent as to the attitude that
the ordinary English horticulturist takes towards spraying, fumigating, or
otherwise dealing with insect pests. On the question of rabbits, he said that
the Danyz rat virus has worked well in London in destroying rats, and
" Rattin," a German preparation is also used. He gave me a copy of the
Acts to deal with vegetable and plant diseases, and other reports. The Act
first passed is entitled " An Act for preventing the introduction and spreading
of Insects destructive to Crops," 1877, August, and was passed at the time when
the Colorado Beetle, or Potato Bug, of America (Doryphora decemlineata)
was discovered in England, introduced with a cargo of American potatoes.
The finul section reads : — "This Act may be cited as the Destructive Insects
Act, 1877." Last year (4th July, 1907) the second one, " An Act to extend
the Destructive Insects Act, 187*7, to all Pests destructive to crops, trees, or
bushes," was passed. The first section is as follows :—"(!.) The Board of
Agriculture and Fisheries may, for the purpose of preventing the introduction
into Great Britain of any insect, fungus, or other pest destructive to agri-
cultural or horticultural crops, or to trees or bushes, and for preventing the
spreading in Great Britain of any such insect, fungus, or other pest, exercise
all such powers as may be exercised by the Board in relation to the Colorado
beetle under the Destructive Insects Act, 1877; and that Act shall apply
accordingly, as if in that Act, the expression 'insect' included all such
insects, fungi, and other pests, and the expression ' crop ' included all such
•crops, trees, and bushes."

This is the first comprehensive Act of this kind passed in Great Britain,
and though I am told that it was passed to deal with the American Goose-
berry Mildew (Sphwrotheca mors-uvw, Berk.), it will be seen to include
all pests.

37

The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries publishes a number of leaflets on
agricultural matters, which are sent post free to all who ask for them.

On the llth March, having concluded my work in the museum. I left for
Paris, arriving there the same evening. I engaged an interpreter and guide,
and presented my credentials to Professor P. Mairhal, Entomologist to the
Department of Agriculture, who placed himsolf at my disposal all the time I
was in Paris. He has very good working laboratories, and a fine collection
of economic specimens of the pests of France. Dacus olece is common in the
south of France, and about the district round Marseilles it often does a great
amount of damage to the olive crop. The Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Geratitia
hispauica), as it is called all over Europe, though identical with our introduced
species, has been found on several occasions in the orchards close to Paris ;
but Professor Marchal informed me that they die out every winter, so that
it is from further importations of infested fruit that the fresh broods appear.
He has done some interesting work on Polymorphism, a most interesting fact
in the development of a number of distinct eggs from the single ovum deposited
in the body of a caterpillar by micro -hymenoptera that are parasitic upon them.
He has illustrated the development of a species of Encrytus, showing how,
through a series of fissions, a single egg, after being deposited in the cater-
pillar's body, finally separates into 100 eggs, from which emerge larval wasps,
each spinning a separate cocoon, and producing a tiny parasitic wasp. This
is a phase in the life of internal parasites that has been only quite recently
understood. Professor Marchal has a number of fine coccids from all parts
of the world, among them some very large species of the greasy wax scales
(Ceroplastes) from Africa.

The other branches of the Department of Agriculture are in the same
building, where there is a display of botanical specimens, chemical labora-
tories, and a collection of agricultural implements. There is, too, an advanced
Agricultural College, where Professor Marchal delivers thirty lectures during
the term.

From here I visiteJ the Jar-din de Plantes, going through the splendid
galleries of the different floors of the Natural History Museum, where, in
the entomological section, the nests of termites, wasps, and other insects are
beautifully arranged.

In the lahoratt tries I met Dr. Bouvier, who placed an assistant at my
disposal, and, with him, went through the remains of the Meigen Collection
of Diptera. Part of this collection was destroyed by fire, and another portion
is in the Vienna Museum. There were no named specimens of fruit-flies
among the Trypetirt" . Among other flies, I su\v the difference between two
species of leaf-mining flies, one of which is such a garden pest in Australia.
I'/ii/tninf/zitf affini* has tlu1 tarsi white, while the second species f/*. nigripesj,
said to be our common species, is somewhat larger, and has black tarsi.
There are twelve described species of the genus Lonclura, an interesting group,
for some of them are supposed to damage ripe fruit. After examining their
collection of Cocculm (scale insects), 1 went on to the Pasteur Institute,
where I found the officer in charge of the biting flies, and other insects that
cause fevers, sleeping sickness, and other tropical disea

The evening was spent at the rooms of the Societe Entomologique de
France, of which I have the honour to be a member, and where I attended
the monthly meeting. I met the President, Abbe Joseph de Joannes, and
gave the members a sli<»rt address on enotniological work in Australia.

33

After some work with Professor Marchal, we went to Professor Giard's
laboratories, and, in the absence of the Professor, were shown round by
Dr. Maurice Caullery, and the work on internal parasites and insects was;
explained.

From here we went on to the Sorbonne, and saw the museum and teaching-
collections, where the marine specimens are finely prepared by one of the
assistants, with his special solutions, and finally placed in 5 to 10 per cent,
formalin.

The next day we went over the experimental plots of the Luxemburg
Gardens ; then through the hot-house*, and saw the methods of pruning and
spraying fruit-trees that are trained over walls and trellis. Then on to the
laboratories of the Vegetable Pathologist (Professor E. Griffin), who also has
charge of the Experiment Station at Grenoble. He has very complete
laboratories, in front of which is a large garden where experiments are
carried out.

At the School of Practical Medicine we called upon the famous zoologist,
Dr. Blanchard, and examined his collection of mosquitoes, internal parasites
of animals and man, and fleas. Dr. Emile Brumpt, one of the authorities,
on ticks, showed us his collections, and was anxious to obtain live specimens
of Fowl Tick (Argus americanu*) from Australia. He has proved that they
transmit an organism, Spirulosa, into the blood of their host, which is the
cause of the mortality among tick-infested fowls. He has also discovered,
that leeches can transmit the organism Trypanosoma into the blood of fishes
and frogs, and that though it does not affect the fish, yet frogs from Algeria,
into which it had been injected, died within fifteen days.

At the College of France we met Dr. L. Felix Hennegay, who is one of the
greatest authorities on the morphology of insects, and has published some
fine works on the anatomy of insects.

On the 13th of March I left Paris for Madrid, reaching the latter place on
the following afternoon, and obtained the services of an interpreter the same
evening. Next morning I went down to the Department of Agriculture, and
found that the Minister would not be in his office till midday on the coming
Wednesday ; so, after making an appointment to meet him, I went round to
the laboratories of the Museo di Ciencia Naturales, and met Signors Lauffer
and Mercet, in the absence of Dr. Bolivar. They at once opened out all
their cabinets, which are fitted, not with wooden drawers, but with stiff
cardboard, glass-topped boxes that fit closely into the cabinets. Though there
were no special economic specimens, there is a very complete collection of
the Spanish insect fauna dealing with all the orders, and also a general
collection. Among the economic specimens are several named species of
beetles of the genus Lyctus, to which our " rattan furniture " beetle belongs.
Among the Coccinellidse I observed a specimen labelled Novius cruentatns
Berlese, which appears to be a variety of our very variable species Novius
cardinalis.

On the following morning I met Dr. Bolivar, the Director of the Museum,
who explained that the museum collections were not on an economic basis,
but now that people were taking an interest in economic entomology they
were making an agricultural collection.

Dr. Bolivar is one of the leading authorities on Orthoptera, grasshoppers
and locusts, and has an immense private collection. Two of the common
plague locusts of Spain are Stauronotus genel and Arcyptera flavicosta ; the
latter is the large red-legged locust. Both of these do considerable damage
to the grass and crops. From the Museum I went out to the School of

Photo, by 1. Lacost*.

Ministerio de Fomento. Madrid, Spain. The Department of Agriculture.

39

Agriculture, where the Department has a large area of ground laid out in
experimental plots : and at the college about 200 students from all parts of
Spain are taught scientific arid practical agriculture. Professor Navarro,
who is the general scientific adviser, and has charge of the various experi-
ment farms and stations, informed me that at the present time there was
no law in force in Spain to deal with insect or fungus pests, but there was a
•draft before the House, which the Department expected to get passed into
law this year, when they would be able to deal with pests coming into the
country and those that were there already. He showed me his tine collection
of insect and fungus pests, and said that the chief industries, as far as
orchards were concerned, were the growing of citrus fruits and olives. Of the
former an immense quantity are shipped to London. The worst diseases of
the orange are the three scale insects Lecanium he*peridum, Aonidia auranti
(our red scale), and Mytalaspis flavescens ; and sometimes a little Aspidiotus
lemonii comes on the fruit. The two worst fungus diseases are Capnodium
-cilri and Gomosis del Navavj, the latter a form of "collar rot."

The Department are afraid to do any fumigation of the trees for scale,
«' for fear the orchardists might poison themselves," but many growers spray
or wash their trees, chiefly with oil mixtures. The bulk of the citrus trees are
grown not from seedlings, but cuttings placed in the ground till they are rooted,
and may or may not be afterwards budded or grafted. The orange growers
cover a large area in the south of Spain, but the individual holdings are
small, so that every tree can be looked after. Apples are only grown in
the north of Spain, chiefly along the coast, and there is no export of apples ;
a great quantity, and all the damaged or wormy ones, are made into cider.
Professor Navarro says that codling moth is the common pest of the apple
there, and a very large percentage of the crop is always infested. He had
never seen or heard of any parasite being any check on codling moth in
Spain. One of the pests that was much in evidence was a small chrysomalid
beetle (Cassida viftata), which is so abundant in the sugar-beet fields feeding
upon the plants ; it has caused a great loss to the growers.

He strongly advised me to visit Valencia, the centre of the citrus industry,
so on the following day I called on the Minister for Agriculture, who gave
me letters to the Director of the Experiment Station (Escuela Practice de
Agricultura), at Burjasot, Valencia.

On the 20th March I left Madrid for Valencia via Barcelona, and on the
following day was travelling southward. At Tarragena there is a large
alluvial plain running in from the coast, which is well watered by irrigation
from the hills behind. Here there is a great extent of mixed orchard ; but,
as one gets further south, the poor ground running back to the barren
hills is clothed with olive trees that seem to be able to grow without any
actual soil so long as they can get their roots into the broken limestone.
Lower down come vineyards, but the richer land between the sea and the
mountains forms, in many places, long unbroken stretches of citrus orchards,
until one comes quite close to Valencia, where, in the immediate vicinity,
there are a great number of fields of vegetables. The rich black soil is
ridged round with raised irrigation channels, from which the water is run
over the fields. In the vineyards and orchards nearer Barcelona the
country is covered with shallow wells, where the water is drawn up with
earthenware jars attached to a band and wheel.

At the Experiment Station, some distance from the town, I found the
Director, Dr. Marti, who took me all over the fields and orchards. The
citrus crop was being gathered, and along the line and around the railway

40

stations there were great quantities of waste oranges scattered about. Dr.
Marti said that there was seldom any trouble from the fruit-fly (Geratites
hispanica), now considered identical with C. capitata • but at Malaga, further
south, towards the end of the year, this fruit-fly often did a great deal of
damage to the citrus crop. No methods are used to deal with it, except
that some of the growers clear up their orchards and destroy the fallen,
useless fruit. The Olive Fly (Dacus olece) is a well-known pest all through
Spain, wherever the olive is cultivated, but apparently does not do anything
like the damage that it causes in Italy. The orange-trees are planted deep
in the soil, and, in consequence, suffer much from "collar rot." To rectify
this at the station all the main roots round the trunk were exposed and the
soil thrown out. All the trees here were grafted. Red scale is the
commonest scale insect in the citrus orchards.

From Valencia I returned to Barcelona, going straight on to Montpellier,
in France, where I spent two days with Dr. Yalery Mayet, and at the Ecole
de Agriculture. The Director was away in Paris, but the Secretary placed
an officer at my disposal, who took me all through the laboratories, herbar-
ium, and afterwards over the fields and experimental plots. The study of
viticulture is the important work of this school ; and in the insect and
botanical laboratories all the insect and fungus diseases of the vine are
exhibited ; while in the hot-houses there are living forms ; and in the experi-
mental plots all the different methods of pruning, cultivating, and trellising
vines are shown. Some experiments in the German method of " paving "
are also being carried out. The ground, in which a number of growing vines
are planted, is covered with different coloured basic slag mixed with a little
concrete or cement. The effect of the sun's rays on the different coloured
ground is being noted in the rapidity of the growth of the vines and the
ripening of tha berries. Some other plots were covered with paving stones
among which the vines grew ; others were growing under cover of river
gravel of different quality and thickness.

The preservation of ripe grapes was pointed out to me by the Secretary.
Each bunch is cut off the vine with a section of the cane ; this is placed in a
jar of water and charcoal ; each jar is then hung upon a- hook driven into
the wall, so that each bunch hangs down without touching anything. If
the store-room has a regular temperature, these bunches are said to keep for
months, and though the stalks wither the berries remain firm and hard.

From Montpellier I went on to Marseilles, where I took my passage to
Naples in the Nord Deutscher Lloyd steamer, reaching Italy on 27th March.
At Naples I engaged a guide and went out to the entomological laboratories
of the Department of Agriculture at Portiei. Here I met Professor F.
Silvestri and his staff, and went through their collections. Many of the
cosmopolitan pests are common in Italy. Professor Silvestri is the exponent
of the value of parasites, and hopes to deal with the Olive Fruit-fly (Dacus
olef) in this manner. This fly is one of the worst insect pests in the world,
and all the Italian entomologists are working to destroy this very serious
pest to the great olive industry.

Here I learnt that the damage caused by the Mediteranean Fruit Fly was
confined chiefly to Sicily and to Calabria on the mainland. The Department
recommend the burning and boiling of all infested fruit, but they have no
power to enforce their recommendations.

Professor Silvestri suggested the idea that fruit-flies could be made an
international matter. All countries that are infested with fruit-flies could
pay a certain sum. to be used in original investigations by a board or staff of
entomologists for the benefit rf all the countries interested in the matter.

[Photo, by A. Stauda, Vienna.

The K. K. Hot-Museum, Vienna, Austria.
This is the Natural History Museum, situated in Maria Theresa Square. It faces the statue of the Queen.

41

Finding that thrrr was a regular inailboat service to Palermo, Sicily,
every evening, with letters to Dr. Perez, in charge of the entomological
work in Sicily and Curator of the University Museum, I reached Palermo
early <m Sunday morning, and spent the day with Dr. Perez among the citrus
orchards a fc\v miles outside the town. Most cf these orchards are enclosed
in high stone walls, and are regular thickets of trees which are all standarded,
having no branches up to 4 or 5 feet from the ground, and often much
higher ; planted at all sorts of angles they form a regular thicket above
one's head. The trees are all grafted or budded about 3 or 4 feet above the
ground on the stem of a wild orange. It is said by the orchardists that
trees grafted in this manner are not subject to collar rot. Very little atten-
tion is paid to pruning, and most of the trees are said to be from sixty to
seventy years of age ; they are planted from 9 to 12 feet apart.

Returning to Naples i left for Rome the following day, and then met
Professor Grassi, one of the leading authorities on insect anatomy in Europe,
and well known for his work in connection with mosquitoes and malarial
fever. He showed me many interesting specimens upon which he was
working ; among them the life history of a blood-sucking fly, allied to our
sandfly (Phlebotomus papatasi), which he had bred in the solid sediment of
the city sewers. In old times these flies were such a serious pest and so
numerous that it was impossible to live in some districts. He has also done
a great deal of work on termites and their internal parasites.

With regard to the leaf-galls of phylloxera, which I was told in Mont-
pellier were rare in France, Professor Grassi says that they are quite common
both in France and Italy on the lowest leaves of American vines growing
in damp ground at some seasons of the year. Among some interesting
specimens he gave me was a fresh- water crustacean (Aims, sp.), which is said
to be so numerous in some parts of Lornbardy that it cuts off quantities of
young rice growing in the water. The waters of our western swamps teem
with a closely allied Apus, which might, under such conditions, become a
pest, though at present it is a source of food to our wild ducks.

The Agricultural Museum was afterwards visited. It contains a large
exhibit of both agricultural and technical specimen^. Here also was dis-
played a fine collection of the insectivorous birds of Italy, though they have
no protection of birds in Italy, and not only kill all their own native birds
and eat them, but erect trap? all along the sea-coast to capture the great
flocks of migrating birds crossing from Africa to Europe.

At Florence I found that Professor Berlese had left that morning for
Genoa, but met the assistants at the Entomological Branch, and was shown
over the different divisions by Drs. Guercio and Paoli. With them I went
into the spraying of olive fruit-fly and other mechanical methods, which are
given in detail later on. Besides the olive fly they have several destructive
.scale insects, one of which, Diaspis pentagona, is very prevalent upon mul-
berry trees ; if neglected it often kills them. As the mulberry is very
extensively grown in northern Italy for feeding silkworms, anything that
interferes with the output of silk is a serious matter. Lecanium olece is
common, but more a pest in gardens and small plantations. Wiring to
Dr. Berlese to wait for me at Genoa, I left the following afternoon and met
him in the evening, when we talked over his methods till late in the night.
Here I visited my valued correspondent, Dr. Gestro, Curator of the Museum;
We compared notes on New Guinea insects, and I saw some of the entomo-
logical collections. Then I went to the University of Genoa, -and with
Dr. Ricca examined the herbarium and large series of hot- houses and
collections of plants belonging to the School of Botany.

42

From Genoa I went direct to Vienna, which was reached on the 9th of
April, and where I spent three days, divided between the Natural History
Museum and the different branches of the Department of Agriculture. The
museum contains many very important economic collections, among which
are Signoret's classical collection of Coccidce, and a very large collection of
Diptera, containing many of the types from Meigen, Schiner, Loew, and
Mik's collection. Here I obtained a great deal of valuable information as to
the identification and range of the different species of fruit-flies recorded iru
the supplement of this report. Among some interesting groups are Loew's-
collection of G aster ophilus, and other stock infesting flies ; quite a number
of bot-flies are common in Austria, and the curious Elephant Bot
(Cobbollia elephant is) has been bred from the bots of an elephant in the
Vienna Zoological Gardens. There are a number of Australian coccids in
Signoret's collection, and the types of many curious species ; also a very
curious coccid, Tachardia or Lecanium, which is unnamed, is labelled Brisbane,
Queensland ; it is as thick as one's little finger, and is on an acacia twig, Under
the genus Spondylatpis, which, though a Psyllid, Signoret, from the scanty
material in his hands, believed to be a scale insect, is represented by several
specimens, with MS. names that were never published : — Spondylaspis
bancrofti, identical with my species ; Cardiavpis pHcatuloides ; S. cercuf, an
undetermined species of Cardiaspi$ ; and S. spinulosa^ which is Cardiaspis
artijex, described by Swartz from Austialia.

Dr. A. Handiirsch showed me over the different departments, where the
specimens are very beautifully arranged, and I then went through the
Lepidoptera with Professor Rebel, who, besides being custodian of this group,
is lecturer on entomology to the students of the Agricultural College. Among
some of the most injurious moths in Austria are those that attack the foliage
of the forest pine trees. Conthylis ambiguilla is a moth whose Iarva3 in the
first brood eat the flowers of the vine, and in the second generation later on
damage the immature grapes. Eurycreon sticdcalis is very destructive to
the foliage of the sugar beet.

At the laboratories of the Agricultural Department, where all the different
branches are housed, I met the chief of the staff, Dr. F. Dafert, who passed
me on to the Chemical Laboratory, where they deal with plant-manures and
soils. A charge of 5 krones (4s. 2d.) is charged to farmers for each analysis
of soils. At the dairy branch they have charge of the testing of all the
samples of milk supplied from the city milk shops, which are sampled every
month. The supervision of the dairies frcm which the milk is sent is under
the Veterinary Department, who also tf st the cattle foods. The Viticultural
Chemist has tests made of all \\ine sold in the city markets, and the depart-
ment can prosecute all selling such below standard.

The Turf or Peat Branch shows the value and uses to which the large
deposits of peat in Austria can be put besides fuel ; much of it is used in
distilling alcohol, also for bedding for stock. Models of peat slacks and tools
for cutting and digging peat are exhibited.

The Fisheries Branch is another important branch, as much work is done
in protecting the abundant supply of fresh-water fish ; and at the Agricul-
tural exhibition at the suburb of St. Marx, there were over 300 tanks of live
fixh, in many cases showing the development and different stages of their
growth. The diseases and food of fishes is also attended to by this branch.

Dr. Arthur Bretschneider has charge of the laboratories dealing with
bacterial and fungus diseases. A number of rabbits were being fed in one
room upon American maize that had caused a peculiar disease among the
people eating it, .and which was supposed to have been contaminated by mice.

43

Drs. Wahal and Fulmer have charge of economic entomology, and have
cabinet collections of injurious insects. Among the leaf-eating moth larvae
they consider Liparis monacha one of the worst upon fruit trees. Two white
moths, Euprotis drysasholis and Aparia cretugi, make webs in the apple
trees and do considerable damage. The larva of a geometer moth (Cheimatulis
hamata) is another apple pest ; a lime ring is used round the tree trunks to
keep the caterpillars from ascending the tree. A small weevil (Anthnnomus
sulcicollis}, and a second species, A. punclipennis, do a great deal of harm to
sugar beet. The larva? of the Gall Fly (Cecidomyia pisavora) live in the eyes
of the young pears, and cause them to swell and drop off ; it is a serious pest
at times.

The rabbit is a great favourite in Austria, and at Easter the shops were
full of toy rabbits and little chickens full of sweetmeats, while the large
Easter eggs were often sold containing a little live rabbit, " little children of
the fields." At the St. Marx show there were hundreds of differect varieties
of domesticated rabbits and Belgian hares, some of immense size. In all, there
were 600 cages of rabbits, and the prize specimens were weighed, measured,
and handled like prize poultry.

I left Vienna on the 12th April, and reached Budapest, the capital of
Hungary, the same evening. At the Royal Museum of Hungary I met the
Director, Dr. Horvath, who introduced me to his staff, and with them I
examined many of the most important groups in the entomological cabinets.
This museum is famous for its extensive collection of Hemiptera (plant bugs,
tfcc.), and of which Dr. Horvath is a well-known specialist ; and Diptera (flies),
of which Professor Kertesz is a leading authority. I made many notes on
the groups containing fruit flies, among which are some unique specimens
collected by Biro in New Guinea and the Malay Archipelago. He also showed
ine the mass of references and cards used by hrin in compiling his great
catalogue of the Flies (Catalogue Dipterorium, 1902-8).

Then I visited the Central Bureau of Ornithology, a branch of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, in charge of Dr. Otto Hermann. For this work the king-
dom of Hungary is divided into nine districts according to their altitude.
The migrations of the different species are observed and noted ; the stomachs
of great numbers have been dissected, and their food tabulated to show their
food habits, and thus their economic value as insectivorous birds is demon-
strated. The foresters are all interested in the work, and artificial nests are
made and distributed all over the forests and islands in the Danube for their
protection. Many interesting pamphlets are issued by this branch, some of
which are written in English.

The Royal Hungarian Agricultural Museum is certainly one of the
most complete agricultural museums in the world. "The object and aim of
this museum consists of bringing before the eyes of our agriculturists, land-
owners, proprietors of forests, horticulturists, and owners of vineyards, in a
collective exhibition, such products and articles as may be considered essential
and important from an agricultural point of view, and capable of conveying
a reliable and practical knowledge to Hungarian as well as foreign industrial
men, tradesmen, consumers, merchants, and all those interested in agricultural
products."

This museum was founded in 1896, and in 1900 2,400,000 crowns were
given by the Government to build the present museum, which was finished
last year. In the wheat-hall there is a collection of samples of wheat from
fifty-three different parts of Hungary for ten successive years. These, with
the soils in which they grow, have been analysed by the National Chemical
Institution, and the results exhibited with the samples. With this there ia

44

also a general collection of Hungarian and foreign wheat. Then come
samples of seeds, vegetables, fodder, maize, and medicinal herbs, with the
methods for preserving fodder, tests of hay, £c. Tobacco is shown from the
experimental station at Debreczen, and samples of all kinds of tobaccos. In
the horticultural division, models are made of all the different kinds of fruits ;
samples of jams and preserves from the leading factories are exhibited. The
pests, both insects and fungus, are illustrated, and a series of the nests, eggs,
and birds that are considered valuable to the landowner are mounted. Then
come the noxious and useful animals of agriculture, and further on models of
all the different types of Hungarian stock — sheep, pigs, horses, and cattle.
Another room is devoted to the different implements and dresses of the
forester, herder, farmer, and fisherman. A very fine collection of paintings
of the different kinds of grapes is shown ; implements used in the vineyards,
wine-presses, &c. All dairy products are exhibited ; honey, with models of
hives. Sugar, beer, and other products are placed in cases. Agricultural
machinery, agricultural architecture, and a collection of drawings and pictures
illustrating the growth and history of agriculture in Hungary is shown.
The home industries — hand-made baskets, weaving of flax and hemp, and
tools — form another court, with a complete illustration of the silk industry
of Japan. The upper portion of the building is devoted to forestry, one
corner being built up in imitation of a forest, with groups of the birds and
animals found in the forest. Specimens of all the different timbers, the
implements, and guns used by the foresters, are there.

All through this beautiful building there are pictures, drawings, plans, and
maps, illustrating the different subjects. These were explained to me by the
Assistant Curator, Dr. Paikert. This museum might well be copied in
Australia ; and if all the primitive implements used by our early settlers and
stockmen could only be collected before they are lost for ever, they would
make a very interesting exhibit. Though the implements of our natives are
not numerous, they could be exhibited in an attractive manner in an agricul-
tural museum, and be of great interest. With Dr. Horvath I called upon
the Minister for Agriculture, Dr. Ignatius Daranyi, and in his absence
explained my mission to his Under Secretary. From there went over to the
laboratories of the Agricultural College, where there is also a small teaching
staff, for the purpose of giving a last year's course to the head student of
each of the country agricultural colleges — about ten in number. These
buildings are only just finished, and form a fine block of buildings, surrounded
with small experimental gardens. The Director, Mr. J. Jablonowsky, who is
also the entomologist, showed me all their insect pests : and he has a very
fine collection of pests, and timbers, &e., damaged by them. Besides the
Hessian Fly, the wheat crops have a very serious pest in the larvae of a
lamellicorn beetle (Zabrus cjibbus), which in the grub state devour the root-
lets of the crop, while the perfect beetles hatch out, and, climbing up the
stalks, damage the ears. In a bad attack they sometimes take 50 per cent,
of the crops. The Stem Saw-fly (Cephus pygmceus) also does a considerable
amount of damage to the stems of growing wheat. The locust plagues are
often a very serious item on the great plains of southern Hungary, destroying
so much ^ grass and crops that the different district officials, aided by the
Central Government, have instituted a regular crusade against them. The
Agricultural Department have 300 machines in use. This machine ia
after the fashion of a reaping machine, and is drawn by horses and fitted
with stiff brushes, that sweep up and destroy the small locusts before they
can fly. These machines are sent down to the local authorities in infested
districts, and a number driven in line soon sweep over a large area. Quite a

45

number of different beetle-larva? attack tbe roots of the vines, particularly in
the light sandy soils in which most of the vineyards are now planted since
phylloxera has appeared. Codling moth, as in other parts of the world, is one
of the worst orchard pests in Hungary.

Dr. Balint showed me over the viticultural laboratories, in which they
have a very fine series of plant disease?, particularly of the vine. These are
preserved in a saturate solution of sulphuric acid ; the jars are sealed up, and
thus the colours remain fixed. Among these were some very fine examples
of the leaf-galls of phylloxera. Another method of exhibiting diseased foliage
was to place the leaf between two sheets of clear glass in glycerine jelly,
which were then placed in frames in the windows. He showed me experi-
ments in testing the soil by the different weeds growing upon the poor, sandy
s •>[}<. iii which phylloxera could not exist. With an accurate knowledge of
the plants growing in these soils, he said, they could say whether it was safe
or not to plant vines in that particular land. Subsequently I paid a visit to
the Nyiregyhaza district, and, through the kindness of Dr. Kallay, was able
to go over the vineyards near the famous Tokay district, where the land
( insists of very light sandy soil. The vines are planted 3 feet apart, and
the rows are about the same distance, so that it is all hand cultivation. The
vines are covered over with sand in winter. I was told that in this district,
though most of the large vineyards were planted with resistant stocks, many
of the smaller men use the old vines, trusting to the light sandy soil. All
the small growers either sell the grapes to the wine-makers at so much per
ton, or crush the grapes and sell the must to the dealers who come round.

The Government wine-cellars at Fincemesteri are formed of great galleries
and chambers hewn out of the side of the mountain of limestone, and consist
of two main galleries and seven cross galleries. The vintage of the Govern-
ment vineyards, which are very extensive, is treated here, and they usually
have from 7,000 to 8,000 hectolitres of wine on hand. They hold auction
sales four times a year, to sell off the surplus stock. Here they also have a
small class of ten to twelve students, who go through a three years' course of
wine-making and cellarman's work.

At the School of Horticulture is another fine institution which has a
regular teaching staff, dealing wiih general horticulture and orchard work,
and on an average there are ten students at work. There is a large flower-
garden, an experimental vineyard, and 12 acres of orchard, where things are
both grown in the open and under glass. The Director said that the most
popular keeping apple was the " White Colville."

At the city markets I saw a very fine collection of fruit and vegetables ;
and in some pens behind were a number of the white, curly-haired pigs
peculiar to this country, which, when seen in mobs herded in the fields at
any distance, might be easily mistaken for sheep. Most of the fish are kept
in large tanks, the seller dipping them out with a net, so that the buyer gets
them alive. Among the dead fish were some large sturgeon, common in the
waters of the Danube.

At midnight on the 21st of April I \left Budapest for Constantinople, on
my road to Cyprus. Passing over the great plains of Servia and Bulgaria,
dotted over with flocks and herds, and over much rich farming land, I
reached the Turkish frontier at midnight of the second day, and arrived at
Constantinople about 10 o'clock the following morn1'^^

Here I did not expect to gain much information in regard to pests or
agriculture, but through the kindness of the British Consul, Mr. A. F,
Waugh, I was enabled to get into touch with some of the Government

46

officials and persons interested, and obtained some very interesting notes.
Through Dr. Maclean I was invited out to Mr. Thompson's estate at
Bostondjok, on the Asia Minor side, and saw the Turks pruning and
grafting their vines, and digging the vineyards with great two-pronged forks.
At one time there was quite a large wine industry here ; but the massacres
of the Armenians and the subsequent damage by earthquake to the property
of the remaining merchants, who were the chief consumers of wine, has so
reduced the sale that nearly all the vignerons have given up making wine
and grow table grapes instead. They have a very fine thin-skinned variety
which always brings a good price. Phylloxera swept all over this country
many years ago, and a great number of the orchards died out. Mr. Thomp-
son's has been replanted with blight-resistant stocks, but very few of the
Turkish growers have changed their methods, and still graft on the wild
grape. Curious little watch towers are built up in all the vineyards, where
a man sits and guards the field while the grapes are ripening.

With a letter from the Consul, I called at the Dette Publique Ottomane
and met M. Raymond, one of the Inspectors in the department, who
furnished me with a great deal of information regarding the agricultural
industries of Turkey. He endorsed the opinion of Mr. Thompson that the
wine industry had been destroyed, but said it was mainly due to the ravages
of phylloxera. The Smyrna raisin industry is an important source of
revenue ; the bunches of grapes are dipped in a mixture of oil and potash
and then placed on the ground to dry. Where the growers are too poor to
buy potash, they make a lye from the ashes of the burnt vine cuttings. The
raisin grape vines are cultivated somewhat differently from the table and
wine grapes, being planted 2J metres apart in rich black soil, and allowed to
spread all over the ground until the grapes are formed, when they are tied
up to small stakes so that the bunches which grow along the canes hang clear
above the ground. Fungus diseases are very prevalent in all the vineyards;
and they say that a very bad form of mildew, that was practically unknown
in Turkey until a few years ago, has done more damage, and is more difficult
to treat, than all the other pests put together. The silk industry is also in
the hands of the Dette Publique Ottomane, and is fostered in all ways by
this department. They examine all the eggs, and supply cuttings and young
mulberry plants free to all the growers that apply, and most of the silk
grown in Turkey is reeled and manufactured in the country. Last year the
quantity cf cocoons grown in Turkey in Europe reached to 3,623,145 kilos, a
kilo being equal to 2 Ib. 8 oz.

This department encourages orchard work, and collects all the revenue
from the silk, wine raisin industries, forestry, licenses, fisheries ; and has also
the monopoly of the salt industry. The chief fish in the markets is a large
flat fish commonly known as a "turbot," and a small, slender, silvery green
fish known as the "mackerel"; the latter are caught in immense numbers
in the Bosphorus. They are gutted, soaked in salt water for two or three
days, and then hung over strings and dried in the sun, and are an important
item in the food supply of the poorer classes. I paid several visits to the
fruit markets, where an immense number of oranges are sold, coming in from
all parts of the Mediterranean ; most of the other fruits are poor, and very
few bananas appear to come into Constantinople. Apples are not grown in
any quantity in Turkey, and at this season of the year are very poor, both in
quality and size. The best apples come from the neighbourhood of the town
of Amasia, on the Asiatic side. The market for dried fruits is very extensive,
find all kinds of curious dried fruits,. beans, pulse, and grains of all kinds can
be found upon the market stalls.

47

Scale insects do not appear to do much damage, for all the fruit was
remarkably clean ; in a very few instances only were scales noticed upon the
fruit.

On the 30th April I left Constantinople for Cyprus vid Smyrna and
Beyrout, reaching my destination on the 6th of May. A day was spent in
Smyrna where the markets were visited, and we stayed two days at Beyrout.
The latter is an important centre of the silk industry, and for miles beyond
the town the fields are nearly all planted with mulberry trees, and there were
many reeling machines and hand-looms working in the houses in the outskirts
of the town. There were large mat-covered houses in the centre of many of
the fields where they were evidently feeding the silk worm =», but without a
guide it was not advisable to trespass too far into their fields. One of the
things that struck me much at all these ports was the slaughter of all the
small birds in the fields ; every Turk I met had a gun, and shot a*i every bird
that moved ; while in the markets there were scores of dealers selling strings
of birds — from swallows to dollar birds.

Reaching Larnica early in the morning, my arrangements were much
simplified by the kindness of Mr. Clement Reid, of the Geological Survey
Department of London, who was visiting Cyprus on official business, and had
a carriage to take us on at oijce to Nicosia, the capital, 25 miles inland.
The country between Larnica and Nicosia is the worst part of the island,
being destitute of anything but little prickly shrubs, and consists of lime-
stone and marl hills forming low undulating country. At Nicosia the
country improves, and beyond the town there is a considerable amount of
cultivation. My first business was with the Director of Agriculture, Mr.
Saracomenos, and we made an appointment for the following day to see the
locust hunters and their camp.

Though I have given some account of the methods adopted, in my Progress
Report upon the methods used in dealing with the locust plague in Cyprus
since the British occupation of the island in 1879, the question of our locust
or grasshopper plagues is such an important one that I propose to repeat my
previous information. At the time when the British Government took over
the island of Cyprus from the Turkish Government, agreeing to administer the
country under mixed tribunals, and paying a sum of .£90,000 per annum for
the value of the revenue obtained in taxes from the island, the hordes of
locusts that bred in the barren lands usually ate about half the crops, and
occasionally all of them. The destruction of these pests was one of the first
problems that the authorities had to take in hand if they were g- ing to get
any revenue to pay the Turkish Government.

Through the kindness of Mr. A K. Bovill, Chief of the Forestry Depart-
ment, I obtained a complete set of the Comnrssioners' reports, from the time
when they first commenced active field operations against the locusts in 1880.

In the 1880-1 report, by Commissioner Inglis, Famagusta, all able-bodied
men in the district of Nicosia, and throughout the infested districts, were
assessed to furnish 7 okes of locust eggs before the 1st of October, after
which date they had to furnish 8 okes ; and in the district of Nicosia 80 per
cenN of the people collected this quantity. The collection of the eggo com-
menced at the end of June, and within six months 138,422 okes ot eggs had
been gathered ; as every pod (or egg-cluster) contained from 30 to 35 eggs,
and each oke contained from 450 to 500, this represented a total of two
thousand million locusts.

In March, 1881, however, in spite of all this destruction, the locusts
appeared just as bad as ever, and it was decided to try Mattei's plan of screens
and pits ; this was so successful that it was continued every year until 1897,

48

when the pest was practically under control. In 1881 there were 372
screens used, each about 50 yards in length, with 491 traps constructed
along the line. Each mudir (district officer)' was made responsible for his
district, and had under him a number of first and second-class assistants.

The screens were set up at right angles to the line of march of the hoppers,
and pits were dug at interval of 30 to 50 yards ; a strip of oilcloth was sewn
along the top of each screen, over which an assistant regularly rubbed an oiled
cloth so that none of the hoppers that climbed up the screen were able to get
beyond the lower edge of the oilcloth. For the first four weeks, while the
locusts were small, 2,600 pits were dug to a depth of 2 feet, and filled with
trapped locusts. Then when they started to fly, a price of 30 paras, afterwards
increased to 60, was offered for every oke of winged locusts, and it was found
that they were very easily captured in the evening and early morning.

In 1883 there were 7,543 screens in use in the four districts, and 2,631
labourers were engaged in the work. It was estimated that over 259/284
millions of locusts were destroyed in this season's campaign, at a cost of
£12,333.

In 1884 the number of screens was increased to 11,085, and the money
expended reached to £14,746. The Commissioner, commenting on this
•expenditure, stated that up t:> this date (1886) the sum of £66,841 had been
spent in the work of locust destruction. He wrote : —

. "Large as this expenditure may seem, it is certain that it has already been
recovered by the island many times over, in the value of the crops saved.
Assuming that only a quarter of the wheat and cotton, and a sixth of the
barley and oats, would have been destroyed, had no vigorous means been
taken to destroy the locusts, the loss in the island would have amounted to
£80,000. These figures are derived from the estimated value of the crops
based on the assessment of the tithes of the years 1882-83-84."
. These methods were carried on for some years longer, and in 1897 the expen-
diture was £4,216. The area of the island is 3,584 square miles, and the locusts
laid their eggs chiefly in the barren patches on the plains. The locust-catchers,
who are paid by results, were busy at work sweeping the barren hills a few
miles outside Nicosia. They were armed with a stout calico net, shaped at
the mouth like a bow, with a handle across the middle; the flat side was
svvept over the rocks and low herbage, and the locusts fell into the contracted
b$,g-shaped extremity, from which they were shaken by the hunter into a
receiving bag carried at his belt. There were a number of men at this work,
who, when their bags were full, walked back to the town, where, outside
the gates, the Government had a locust camp. Here was an office under a
tent; an attendant, after shaking the dust and dirt out through a sieve,
weighed the accumulated locusts, entered the weight in his book, and the
officer in charge issued a slip for the value at the current rate, which the
hunter presented to the Treasury and was paid the amount it represented.
After the day's collections are gathered together in a large sack, they are
•emptied into a covered pit into which a quantity of lime is thrown. The residue,
at the end of the season, is used for manure in the experimental garden.

The Director informed me that during the last few years in Greece they
h$ve had very good results from spraying the locusts in the hopping stage with
caustic soda and oil, and that the locust officers in Cyprus were going to try
it,next season.

There ^are three species of locusts common in the island, of which the plague
locust (Stacronotcs crucitatus, var. americanus) is the most harmful. The eggs
ha.tch out in March, and in ordinary seasons the locusts are hunted well
into May.

[Photo, by J. F. Foscolo, Limassol.

i

Typical View of the Marl and.Chalk Formation between Larnica and Nicosia, Cyprus

49

The locust tax, to provide money for the destruction of locusts, is levied,—
first, upon all tithable pro-luce, 1 per cent, on the value (besides the ordinary
tithe) ; secondly, on all houses, shops, and other building*, 1 per 1,000 on
the estimated value yearly ; thirdly, on every annuity, pension, or stipend
payable out of the public revenue of the island yearly, I per cent, on all
incomes amounting to .£200; fourthly, on every sheep and goat yearly 1 •">
paras. So that everybody on the island has to contribute something to the
fund.

The increased area under cultivation since the settled government of
Britain has probably also been a great factor in helping to destroy the locusts,
for they are driven on to the barren lands more every season, and are more
t-asily dealt with.

\Vith the Director I went through his collection of the chief insect pests,
and found that "Red Scale" (Aspidiotes auranli), so common in Australia,
is not only the worst pest on the citrus trees, particularly at Famagusta,
where a great many orange trees have been killed by this scale, bat I also
found it upon the i'olia°e of the wattles, growing round the town. Among
the curious insects Mr. Saracomenas showed me were some wingless Mutillidae
( females of an undetermined species). These are known as " Stiangi " to
the natives, who are very frightened of them, and say that their sting will
bring on '• Stiangi face," a form of blood-poisoning which frequently causes
death. These wingless wasps are very common in the summer, crawling
about on the ground, and can sting very sharply if touched. I learnt after-
wards from one of the medical officers how this idea of the deadly power of
this little wasp originated. The natives often sleep upon the freshly -flayed
sheep and goat skin*, and as sheep-pock is a very common disease in the
flocks, they thus frequently contract this disease, which forms virulent pustules
(Stiangi face). The little stinging wasps often crawl on to these skins and
sting the sleeper if crushed, so that the severe sting becomes associated with
the disease, and all the Cypriots are firmly convinced that the disease is
caused by the wasp.

The Athalassa, Experiment Farm is primarily run for the improvement of
the live stoclc on the island, and they have imported Durham and Galloway
bulls, but the latter do not thrive. Their Jack donkeys are almost black,
and throw very fine stock, the Cyprus mule being a very fine serviceable
animal.

The sheep are large, leggy beasts, with black heads, bare legs, and large
drooping ears, and have cnrious fat tails terminating in a corkscrew-like
extremity. In most of the native flocks the black ones predominate, and at
the farm they rind it very difficult to breed out the black strain. The wool
does not average more than 6d. per lb., and is very light and coarse in
texture. Sheep are very dear for mutton, and often bring £\ per head.
There are about 250,000 sheep upon the island, all in little flocks, and about
the same number of goats, and most of them run together, herded by the
children, as there are no fences any wh"r«».

The Department of Forestry and Mr. T. K. Bovill have done a great deal
of work in reclaiming and planting the waste land ; they have had wonderful
results in establishing several species of scrubby Australian wattles upon
chalk and marl hills on which there is apparently no actual soil. All round
the capital, Nicosia, there are belts of Australian gum trees, wattles, and
casuarinas, which grow very well. Though it is probable that all the level
country of Cyprus was in ancient tinips covered with some sort of tree, the
native forests of oak and pine only exist on the mountain slopes now. The
question of fuel is a very important one in many parts of the east, and

50

particularly so in Cyprus, so that when the trees are fully grown they will
be regularly thinned out, and it is expected that the timber will yield enough
to pay all expenses.

I spent five days accompanied by Mr. Beven, of the Agricultural Depart-
ment, in travelling round the rural districts. After leaving Nicosia for*
Limasol, the road runs through a considerable amount of poor country
similar to the marl and chalk between Larnica and the capital, and then,
through fields of barley and afterwards plantations of olive and carob trees.
Both of" these latter produce valuable crops, but much of the country where
olives will grow is also suitable for grapes, and as the vine is the most profit-
able, the Cypriots do not grow enough olives to supply their own wants,
and a considerable amount of olive oil is imported. Some of the olive trees
must have attained the age of some of the famous groves in Spain, which
were planted by the Moors 500 years ago, for in many places the centres
of the original trees had decayed long ago, and at each angle a more vigorous
portion had formed a fresh vigorous stem, so that instead of the old tree it
formed a bunch of three or four trees, all covered with flowers in evidence-
of a good crop. In returning to the hardy habits of the olive tree, a gentle-
man in Constantinople told me that during the last riots in Crete, the
natives in many places burnt out each other's olive plantations, leaving them
apparently ruined, so much so that the English people made up a fund to-
replant the orchards, but in the following year, after good rains, the trees all
burst out into leaf again, and gave the most bountiful crop of olives that had
been seen for many years, the year's rest from cropping after the fire
probably being the reason for the great crop

The Carob Bean tree (Ceratonia siliqua), which is a native of the Levant,,
grows wild in Cyprus, but all the best trees have been grafted. It flowers
in August and September, and the crop of beans is gathered in the following
August. It takes its popular name " caroub " or " carob " from the fancied
resemblance of the broad flat bean to a goat's horn. Like the olive, it grows
upon very poor soil without irrigation, and the cultivated trees bear a large
crop of broad flat beans containing from ten to eighteen flat seeds. When
ripe the beans have a very pleasant sweet flavour, and are used for making
sweetmeats ; but the bulk of the beans are sent abroad to be ground up and
made into cattle food. These trees grow very well in 'the dry parts o£
Australia ; and in the time to come, when much of the arid west will be
planted with edible scrub plants and trees, it is to be hoped that the hand-
some carob tree will be among those utilised, and its crop of beans used
to feed our stock. In 1906 there were 44,965 tons of carob beans
shipped from Cyprus, valued at over £157,000. Every little corner along
the road where there was any soil was planted with barley, even if it were,
only a few yards in extent. After passing a large wattle plantation, >* hich
was set out to keep the drifting sand from blocking np the roads, Limasol was
reached the first night ; this is the chief port for carob bean and wine ship-
ments. The next day was spent among the mountains among the vineyards
which are planted in all kinds of angles, on the sides of mountains and on the>
edges of precipices, where one would hardly think even a goat could climb.
The native wine is of poor quality on account of the primitive methods
used in its production ; it is usually cleared with gypsum and carried own
the mountains in pigskins on pack saddles, arid then sold to the wine
merchants of Limasol, who ship the greater part to Egypt. An English
company is making wine at the village of Perapidha, and, under improved
conditions of manufacture, are sending a quantity to England and Germany.

51

Oidium is very prevalent all through these orchards, but growers are
only just beginning to understand the value of sulphur, which is imported by
the Government and distributed at a very low rate to the vine-growers.
Phylloxera is unknown in Cyprus, probably because soon after the occupation
the Government made a very strict regulation against the importation of any
plants into the island from abroad. Coming over the mountains, numerous
orchards were visited in the great Athalassa Valley ; on the upper slopes were
cherry, apple, and mulberry tree?, but when we reached the plains we came
to the Turkish village of Lefka, where there are quite a number of oranges
grown, some under irrigation, but they are planted in all sorts of irregular
thickets and are, as a rule, very badly kept. Many oranges were lying about
under the trees, but on examination all of them had a hole gnawed in the^ide
and had been neatly cleaned out, leaving only the skin ; the owner told me
this was done by the bush rats. This rat may be a very effective agent in
checking the fruit-fly, which, as far as I could learn, was unknown on this
side of the island.

Before leaving Cyprus, I spent a day at Famagusta, where, through the
kindness of Commissioner Travers, who sent one of his officers with me, I saw
•a number of the best citrus orchards in Cyprus. This was the district in
which Mr. Saracomenos had told me the Mediterranean Fruit Fly was a well-
known pest at certain seasons of the year, but I was unable to obtain any
signs of the maggots, though I examined very many fallen oranges. All these
orchards are planted in light sandy soil, which is banked up in squares round
the trees, and irrigated with water drawn from shallow wells. They grow
some of the very largest and finest oranges I have ever tasted. One of the
Jaffa oval type is common in Turkey, and another is almost hemispherical ;
the skins of both are very thick, but even when this is removed, they are
quite as large as our finest fruits. Most of the oranges grown in this district
are shipped to Egypt, where they bring a very good price.

Red Scale (Aspidiotus auranfi) is very bad in many of these orchards, but
the orchardists are beginning to understand how to deal with it, and if they
do not spray, they scrub the worst of it off with a brush. Though a few other
fruits are grown, the chief crop is oranges, and the next important is pome-
granates, the latter being a very valuable crop.

From Cyprus I took the Port Said mail-boat on the 15th of May, reaching
Egypt on the 17th, and went straight on to Cairo. Here I met Mr. F. C.
\Villcocks, Entomologist to the Khedivial Agricultural Society at Giza, which
undertakes an important [art in the agricultural work of Egypt. It has-
well-equipped laboratories ; a chemical branch under Mr. F. Hughes ; a
botanical and plant pathology under Mr. W. L. Balls ; an entomological under
Mr. Willcocks ; and several other departments. This society was instituted
by the Khedive, and afterwards a sum of money was granted by the Govern-
ment to pay the salaries of the officer.*. There are some large experiment
plots attached to the Society Gardens, where experiments are carried out by
the pathologist, in breeding and experimenting with different varieties of
cotton. Among those growing, he pointed out to me specimens of the Car-
vonica from Queensland, from seed I sent him two yeais before. It is closely
.allied, he thinks, to a variety grown in the dry country of Upper Egypt, and
considers it may be a very useful addition to their varieties.

As cotton is the staple industry of the Nile Valley, everything that has a
bearing on this plant is carefully studied, and the insect pests of cotton are
well-known. The commonest and most destructive is the Cotton Boll
Worm, the larva of a handsome little green moth (Earias tnsulana), closely
allied, if not identical, with the cosmopolitan species that is well-known in

52

Australia upon our cultivated experimental cotton plots at Hawkesbury
College, and has also been recorded from Moree, New South Wales, feeding
upon the " wild cotton bush" (Hibiscus sp.), and was recorded by me under
the name of Farias fabia.

This moth, whose caterpillar has very similar habits to the American Boll
Weevil, bores into the small cotton bolls when they are well formed, and
through the injury causes the bolls to fall off without developing. This
moth, with such habits, is a very difficult pest to deal with, particularly in
a crop like cotton ; and if ever cotton is grown commercially in Australia, it
will be a pest we will have to consider.

There are several very destructive cut-worms that do damage to cotton.
Among the worst is the cosmopolitan Noctuid Moth (Agrotis ypsilon),
also a pest on field crops in Australia. The caterpillars come out and
feed upon the " burslam," a cultivated clover which is grown in plots
among the cotton, and then from this attacks the foliage of the cotton
plant. Labour is so cheap that this is partly controlled by hand-picking the
caterpillars and destroying them. Another cosmopolitan cut-worm is
Prodenia littoralis, which, however, lays its eggs in clusters upon the leaves,
so that, taken in time, large quantities can be hand-picked before they hatch
out, and children are employed for this work. Another similar moth, but
smaller, is Caradrina (Agrotis) exigua, which also damages the foliage.
Though all the latter do a good deal of damage at times, the cotton boll
worm mentioned first is by far the worst pest, and was estimated to have
destroyed £1,000,000 worth of cotton in Egypt in 1904.

Two other cotton pests are a small plant bug (Oxycarenus Tii/alinepennis)
and the cotton aphis (Aphis gossypii), which suck up the sap and damage the
leaves.

The fruit industry is not important about Cairo, but a certain amount is
grown in a more or less irregular manner. Where oranges are grown in the
gardens they are very subject to infestation by the Round Scale (Aspidiotus
fici), which appears to be the worst scale insect here ; on the other hand
there is no Red Scale, though Aspidiotus auranti is so common in Cyprus,
and must have been imported over and over again with oranges from that
island. It is known in Egypt as the " Red-spotted Scale."

Among other scale insects, Asterolecanium pustulans is found upon many
trees, but is chiefly a pest upon figs. Icerya purchasi, the Cottony Cushion
Scale, is established there, but Icerya aegyptica is the great garden pest
'among all the mealy bugs.

One of the worst wood-boring beetles that damage the shade trees (Acacia
lebbek) planted along the street is the " Lebbek " (Xy&trocera globosa), I
also noted several curious gall-making Psyllids upon the shrubs.

The collections at the entomological laboratory were carefully examined for
specimens of fruit-flies, but though there are some specimens of Dacus
lonqistilis in the British Museum said to have come from Egypt, Mr,
Willcocks has never obtained the flies here. I, however, obtained a fine
series of Ceratitis capitata, our introduced pest, bred from infested oranges,
obtained in Cairo. This is the first record of the Mediterranean fruit-fly
from this part of Africa, though it is well known in the north-west and
south.

At the School of Agriculture I met Dr. Fletcher, the Director, who gave
me some information about the institution, which is run by the Government,
and has a large teaching staff. One of the most important stations in Egypt
is the Wellcome Research Laboratories, established some years ago in the

53

•Gordon Memorial College ut Khartoum, where Mr. H. H. King is Entomolo-
gist, but I was unable to line I time to go so far inland. These laboratories
have done some very fine work on the lines of the Tropical Schools of
Medicine, in dealing in particular with the sleeping sickness and in studying
the habits of biting and blood-sucking Hies, and other insects that transmit so
many tropical diseases. Thev have i-^ueil several very valuable reports, and
state the objects of their work in the last one: — "To promote the study,
bacteriologkally and physiologically, of tropical disorders, especially the
infective diseases of both man and beast, peculiar to the Soudan ; and to
render assistance to the officers of health and to the clinics of the civil and
military hospitals.

I also called at the Survey and Lands Department, and met Captain
Lyons. wh<> showed me the maps they are charting of the whole of the Nile
delta, cotton area, and the systems of irrigation carried out. At the Veteri-
nary Branch I met Mr. Littlewood, who said that their records of the
number of stock in the country were very irregular, and they had no idea of
the number of horses or sheep in the country, but last year (1907) it was
estimated from the returns that there were 718,000 cattle and 761,000
buffaloes, while there was a very large import of cattle and camels from
Syria. Soudan, Servia, and Russia. There are a great number of stock
disea-*-. Cattle tick is very common, and causes many deaths. Cattle
plague is a very serious difficulty and so is " malarial fever." Anthrax is
very common, but difficult to get at, because the owners never report the
disease. He mentioned a case which was discovered in a village by all the
old women dying in a mysterious manner. On inquiry it was found that
their business was to make the cattle dung into cakes for fuel. The cattle
of the village had died of anthrax, which the women thus contracted.

I would point out the danger of the introduction of the form of " sleeping
sickness" with which camels become infected, often wasting away for a couple
of years before they recover. "We have many biting flies that might easily
become the agents in the spread of this or kindred diseases in Australia.

Leaving Port Said on 20th May, I reached Bombay, India, on the 29th
May, where I immediately called upon the Acting Colonial Secretary, who
advised me to visit Poonah before I went across to Bengal. At Poonah I
met the Assistant Director of Agriculture, who gave me some reports upon
the crops, and then sent me on to the Agricultural College, where I met
Dr. H. H. Mann, who is a well-known entomologist in India. He showed
me the plans for the new college now in course of construction, and which
will accommodate 200 students. Pests, particularly scale insects, are not
common in this part of India. After mangoes, which are the universal
fruit all over the country, large quantities of h'gs are grown in the district
of Poonah. Dr. Mann had not noticed any fruit-fly in the local fruit, but
promised to keep a look out, and send me specimens if found. From Poonah
I returned to Bombay and took the Calcutta train, reaching Chheoki
railway station, where I met Mr. Hewlett, second Imperial Entomologist,
who had come down from Pusa to meet me, and with him went on to Allahabad.
Here we spent a day among the melon gardens, where we found many fruit-
flies scattered about. We experimented with citronella oil to see if it would
attract them. On examination we found that the common melon fly was
identical with the species so common in Hawaii, and named by Coquillet
Dacus cvcurbitce. From Allahabad went on to Cawnpore and visited the
Agricultural College, and met Mr. Hayman, who was on the eve of leaving
the position of experimentalist. Returning to the station we came on the
same evening to Lucknow, and the next day visited Karori village, where

54

we spent the morning among the native gardens, and collected some fruit-
Hies of another species. Mr. Howlett remained at Lucknow and Allahabad,
so accompanied by his man I went on that night to Derha Don, the
headquarters of the Forestry Department, where Mr. Stebbing is Forest
Entomologist. I saw the museum, but Mr. Stebbing was away on tour.

Returned to Allahabad, met Mr. Howlett, and went on to Pusa and met
the officers of the Imperial Research Laboratories. Here Mr. H. Maxwell
Lefroy, Imperial Entomologist, placed the whole staff at my service, and
with Mr. Howlett carried on a lot of experiments with fruit-flies, which
are very numerous in this part of India. We found that citronella oil had
a wonderful attraction for two species of fruit-flies (Dacus), but that none
of the melon flies (Dacus cticurbifte) ever came to the oil. We also collected
many specimens, bred others, and compared all the specimens in the entomo-
logical collections. The Pusa Research Laboratories are supported by the
Government of India, and are fitted up with all the latest improvements.
The staff had just removed from their temporary quarters into the new
building ; it consists of two stories, in which all the laboratories are placed.
The entomological laboratories are very well fitted up, and have very extensive
collections ; these are all kept in teak boxes placed in racks around the
walls. There is also a very fine insectarium in the grounds, and a silkworm
house. The staff consists of Mr. H. Maxwell Lefroy, Imperial Entomologist ;
Mr. Mason, Assistant ; and Mr. Howlett, Special Imperial Entomologist, to
work at diptera, biting flies, &c., ranking as second Imperial Entomologist.
There are eight native assistants, six artists, one engraver, a clerk, and a
number of attendants. The insectarium has an officer-in-charge, with artists
and assistants.

In each Province there is also a Department of Agriculture, where there is
usually a native entomologist attached to the staff. At Madras we visited
the Provincial Department of Agriculture. Mr. T. V. Ramahrishna Aiyar
is in charge of the entomological work, and has several assistants in his
office, where there is a fine collection of economic entomology. These pro-
vincial entomologists, to a certain degree, work with the Imperial entomolo-
gists. They look up all local pests and furnish reports and specimens of any
serious pest for them.

I went over the plantation where lac insects have been introduced and are
doing very well. It is expected that this will be a very profitable industry
if the insects once obtain a footing in the jungle. They are also carrying
out a number of experiments in cultivating the Indian Silkworm Moth
(Attacus rictwf), which feeds upon the castor-oil plant, a food plant that
grows very freely on all waste land.

After a very interesting time at Pusa, accompanied by Mr. Howlett,
I left on the 16th June for Calcutta, reaching there on the following
morning. We found the Director of Agriculture away, but went on to the
India Museum, where Dr. Allingham placed all the collections of Diptera in
our hands, and we went carefully through the fruit-flies and other economic
specimens. L-aving the same night we reached Madras early the second
morning, and after visiting the Department of Agriculture, where Mr. Aiyar
joined us, left for Bangalore the same night.

At Bangalore we spent five days among the orchards and public gardens,
collecting infested fruits, and catching fruit-flies with citronella oil. It was
in this locality that the West Australian Entomologist collected all the para-
sites he sent to Perth last year ; he stated that fruit-fly was very rare in
Bangalore, but our experience proved that fruit-flies are as abundant in this
district as any place in India. Mr. Aiyar, who had bred many of the fruit-fly

[Photo, by II. Maxwell-Lefray.

Insectarium at the Imperial Research Laboratories, Pusa, India.

55

parasites, said that be only bred them from ripe guavas late in the season ;
and one of the nursery men informed me that for the last eight years all the-
guavas in the Bangalore district had been destroyed by fruit-fly maggots.
Most of the mangoes that ripened on the trees or fell to the ground were
infested with fruit-fly maggots, and quite a number that we had on the hotel
tables were more or less infested.

The Mango-leaf Hopper (Idiocerus, sp.) is very abundant in all the
gardens ; they make quite a distinct sound as they fly against the leaves.
There appears to be several species. There is a small Hesperid butterfly
that breeds in the pomegranate, and an unknown species damages the Jack
fruit. There is a new orchard, laid out on Australian plans, being cultivated
by Mr. M. J. Paul, of Mildura, who has formed the Mysore Fruit Company.
They have 40 acres of grapes and other fruits under crop, and can find a
ready sale for a great deal more than they can yet grow, so they propose to
plant a large area, and go in for fiuit drying. Mr. Paul, however, was not
considering the numerous insect pests or the fruit-eating crows which are
attacking the grapes already. Returning to Madras I left for Tuticorin,
en route for Colombo, Ceylon. I reached the former place at 6 p.m. the
following day, and after getting on board ship reached Colombo early on the
morning of 27th June.

At Colombo I called on the Secretary of the Agricultural Society, and
finding him out, went on to Mr. K. Baniber's laboratory. Mr. Bamber,
chemist to the Agiicultural Branch of the Government, was just leaving for
the Malay States ; he advised me to go up to the Royal Botanic Gardens at
Peradenyia by the afternoon train. This I did, reaching the rest-house at
7 p.m. Next morning found the officers of the garden, and also Mr. West,
Acting Entomologist during Mr. E. E. Green's absence. We experimented
with different oils in the gardens, and captured a great number of Dacus,
sp., though the fruit season was practically over. In going through the
collections, I found a series of a very curious fruit-fly, genus Ceratites, allied
to our Mediterranean fruit-fly, but evidently closely allied, if not identical
with, the species described some years ago in the Indian Museum Notes, by
Coates, as the Beluchistan Melon Fly. Accompanied by Mr. West, I visited
the great tea district of Bandarawella, and examined a pest, one of the Cup-
moths or Slug-moths, that was damaging the tea in several plantations. Here
also we saw the Shot-hole Borer, probably one of the worst tea pests in Ceylon.
This is Rhizobiusfornicator, which bores into the twigs and lays her eggs in
the galleries, where the larva? hatch and feed, causing the branches to die
and snap off when touched. No effectual method is known of checking it,
except pruning hard and burning everything. As the planters turn all the
cuttings into plant-food by burying them in the soil between the rows and
letting them rot, it would be very difficult to get them to adopt this method.

The plantations are in many places planted with shade trees ; among them
are large quantities of our Silky Oak (Grevillia robusta). These are kept down
by topping every season, and stripping all the leaves off the trees : they are
scattered over the surface between the rows of tea plants to keep the soil damp.
Large quantities of dadapes (Erythrina lithosperma) are used in the same
manner, and as they give more shade and the foliage is renewed more quickly,,
they are coming into general favour. Tea is planted either with rooted shrubs or
with stake planting. If the latter method the seeds are first germinated, and
two are placed in a prepared hole beside a stake ; if both grow the second is
pulled up, and used to replant holes where they have missed. Tea is a very
hardy plant, growing right up the rugged mountain tides in clefts in the

56

rocks, and carries about 3,000 plants to the acre. Our host, Mr. Duncan,
said he controlled about 14,000 acres on various estates, and the average yield
of tea all over the island is 400 Ib. of dried tea to the acre, and it takes
400 Ib. of green leaf to make 100 Ib. of dried tea. The pruning varies at
different altitudes. In the lowest lands in which tea is grown the plants
have to be pruned every year, higher up the foot-hills every second year, and
the plantations on the tops of the hills only prune every third season. The
commercial tea plant is, therefore, never allowed to attain a height of more
than 2 feet to 2 feet 6 inches in height.

Returning the following night to Peradenyia I met Dr. Willis, Director of
the laboratories, who advised me to go up to Jaffna, the old Dutch capital of
Ceylon, in the extreme north of the island. Travelling all day I reached
Jaffna late the same night (245 miles), where two officers of the Agricultural
Department met me and made all arrangements for the following day.

The whole of this part of Ceylon is a flat, sandy plain, covered with cocoa-
nut palms and palmyra palms, the chief wealth of the natives ; and my guide,
who owned a number of cocoa-nut plantations, said that he would sooner
deal in them than rubber plantations. The cocoa-nut palms are manured by
tying the cattle to them at night. They will bear a crop in from five to six
years. Copra (the dried kernel) is worth from 50 to 80 rupees a ton, the
former price paying well.

We drove out through the country to some mango gardens, and then out
among vegetable garden?, where there were a great number of onions,
bringels, chili, and melon patches, all watered from shallow wells. We could
find no fruit-fly by spreading citronella oil, but soon found many melons
badly infested with fruit-fly maggots, and collected a number, from which, on
board ship, after leaving Colombo, I subsequently bred a number of the
Indian Melon Fly (Dacus cucurbitce).

After going through the markets I called upon Sir William Twynem, who
has a very fine collection of technical and ethnological interest, made during
his long residence in Ceylon. Returning to Colombo, I spent the next
morning at the Colombo Museum, where Dr. W^iley showed me all the
entomological collections.

I left Colombo for Freemantle on the 6th of July, arriving at Freemantle
on the 16th. As soon as I had landed I went up to Perth, and called at the
Department of Agriculture, where, in the absence of the Entomologist in
America, and the Director in the country, I met Mr. Hooper, who introduced
me to Mr. Newman, the Assistant Entomologist. He showed me over the
library, and the hot-house used as a breeding room or insectavium.

In the latter there were several breeding-cages, with quantities of fruit-fly
pupae placed on the floors of the cages, and a quantity of fruit, in a great
part of which Mr. Newman informed me he had placed a number of fruit-fly
larvae under the skin, for the parasites to lay their eggs in them. There
were at least three different species of parasites in the cages, those in
the guava bred from guavas bought, packed, and forwarded from Bangalore
by the West Australian Entomologist the year before. Many, Mr. Newman
informed me, had been distributed in large numbers among the orchards,
but it was too soon to look for results. This was practically the extent of
their insectarium, except a parasite of the cabbage aphis, which they were
breeding to send out to the cabbage-growers about the gold-fields. As
regards a pinned or mounted reference-named collection, Mr. Newman said
the Department had no collection of any kind ; that there was an insect
cabinet in the room full of fruit-flies and other economic specimens, but it

57

was the private property of the West Australian Entomologist, and was
locked ; and as that gentleman had the keys with him in America, they could
not be shown to me.

On the following morning I presented my credentials to the Director of
Agriculture, Mr. Despessis, who talked over the question of parasites with
me, and stated that they had with introduced parasites destroyed the olive
scale (Lecanium olece) in the gardens around Perth, had destroyed the cabbage
aphis on the gold-fields, and were going to destroy the fruit-fly with the
Indian parasites. He as?ked me if I had seen the parasites in th^depart-
mental breeding cages, and then, when I asked him if he could show me any
bred or breeding in the orchards or gardens, said that it was the wrong time
of the year, and that there was nothing to be seen in the orchards.

I then asked him, if I stopped another week in Perth, could he show me
anything more in regard to parasites in the orchards. He distinctly answered
that there was nothing more to show me, either in the office or orchard ;
whereupon I told him that I should leave for Adelaide next day, but w is
quite prepared to remain till the following Thursday if there was anything to
investigate. I make this statement carefully, for before I reached Adelaide
the West Australian representative of the Daily Telegraph of Sydney wired
across the statement, on the authority of the Director of Agriculture (Mr.
Despessis), that u he bad asked me to remain a week in Perth to investigate
the value of parasites, and I had point blank refused."

Left Perth on the 18th of July, reaching Adelaide on the 23rd, and
Melbourne, by the overland express, on the 26th, and reported myself in
Sydney on the 29th, having been away one year and three weeks.

58

PART II.

Notes on Parasites or Insects that have been introduced
from foreign countries to check or exterminate
injurious insects.

Parasites, and their valuo and limitations in controlling injurious insects o! the
garden and orchard.

of the most interesting problems in the study of economic entomology is
that of how far we can avail ourselves of the services of predaceous or useful
insects that devour the injurious species, by introducing them from other
countries to check or exterminate in an artificial manner native pests, or
foreign accidentally-introduced ones that have become pests in their adopted
home.

The subject is such a fascinating one, that most people are apt to rush to
conclusions before the matter has been investigated from all points of view.

After many years' study in Australia, both in the field and laboratories,
after information received personally from entomologists, horticultural com-
missioners, orchardists, and inspectors during my extended travels, and after
careful reading of the many reports, bulletins, and newspaper cuttings
issued, I propose to state my views on this problem, arid shall quote in
conclusion the opinions of some of the leading authorities on the question.

It is a fact that, if it were not for the countless millions of parasites (the
majority of them so minute that their work is never observed) which swarm
in our gardens and fields, there would be such an overwhelming multitude of
caterpillars, grubs, aphides, and scale insects at work, that there would not
be a green thing on the face of the earth. Nature in this abundance of
natural checks has provided for this balance of power, and it is so maintained
under the ordinary natural conditions of the native forest and plains. Thus
probably not more than 5 per cent, of the millions of eggs laid ever reach
maturity and develop into the adult insect.

Though there are many varieties of parasites, they can be broadly divided
into the two very distinct groups for our purpose. First, the predaceous
insects, parasites that feed directly upon the injurious insects, such as the
ladybird beetles (Coccindlid<x\ which may be called external feeders ; and,
next, the insects that, looking for a home for their young, deposit their eggs
within the body of the pest insect by means of an ovipositor (a hollow,
produced needle-like process at the tip of the body), and from which hatch out
the maggots— that eat up their host, and finally pupate under shelter of its
skin or in little cocoons in its body. This class of parasites may be called
internal feeders, and comprise the immense army of microscopic wasps and
flies.

From their size, colour, and activity tfie fact that ladybird beetles were
useful insects was well known by entomologists at a very early date, and in
Kirby and Spence's Entomology, published in 1816, the authors called
attention to the value of the common English ladybird beetle to the hop-
growers in devouring their great pest, the hop aphis, in the south of England,

59

" If we could but discover a mode of increasing these insects at will, we
might not only clear our hot-houses of aphides by their mean1*, but render
our crops of hops much more certain than they nosv are."

This is one of the earliest suggestions made regarding the artificial
production of parasites. It is rather a significant fact that though this lady-
bird (Coccinella septempvnctatd) is often so abundant in Kent that they are
either blown out to sea in such quantities that the returning tide sweeps
them up in long ridges along the sea shore, or else they cause quite a scare
by swarming into the houses in the summer time ; yet the hop aphis
regularly occurs every few years as a very serious pest. I, with many of
the leading entomologists of the world, contend that, while we quite
recognise the importance of parasitic insects in the work of keeping down
insect pests under natural conditions of climate and cultivation in their own
land, yet we certainly dispute the statements continually being made that
every pest (and they even proposed to cure the bacterial disease "pear
blight" in California with a parasite) can be dealt with by finding and
introducing parasites from the country whence the pest is supposed to have
originated. Many entomologists and collectors are so imbued with this idea
that they have formulated the statement, "That every insect is kept in
complete check in its native home by a parasite ; therefore, only find the
exact locality of an insect that has become a cosmopolitan pest, and there
you will find its parasite ; introduce that parasite, by any means, into the
adopted home of the cosmopolitan pest and it is exterminated." Many of
them even go further than this ; they claim that we should give up all
artificial or mechanical means of killing off our pests, for it is a waste of time
and money ; that we are foolishly wasting money in spraying, fumigating,
and burning up infested fruit and cuttings, because we are killing all the
native and introduced parasites, and not giving them a chance to prove
themselves. Now it is only rational to demand that when money has been
expended in introducing a parasite into the orchards it should be protected,
and if this is carried out to a logical conclusion, we must stop all other
methods. This has been done in certain parts of California, under the
powers possessed by the Horticultural Commissioners ; and, if the theory be
sound, should, in the experiments that have been going on for twenty years,
have proved itself. But if we turn to the last report of the Fruit-growers*
Convention, held at Riverside only last May, we will be convinced that
parasites alone have not achieved the end that their advocates promised the
orchardist.

At the present time, too, both the State and Federal authorities are
carrying out elaborate experiments in fumigating in southern California
because the scales have become so destructive on the citrus trees. Here
also (page 49), Mr. Maskew, a well-known authority in California, says :
" The status of parasitism in the citrus orchards, in my opinion, is this — the
United States Department of Agriculture, through the Bureau of Plant
Industry, has proven to you that to have your fruit carry well, and hence
sell profitably, it must come to the packing-house clean. The citrus orchards,
of southern California to-day cannot send the fruit to the packing-house
clean. You can draw your own conclusions from that."

If wishing for popularity, nothing could be simpler than to advocate the
adoption of parasitic methods, for there is a certain amount of plausibility
in the theory of introduced parasites to eradicate all pests that appeals to
the general public, who have not gone into the why and the wherefore of the
matter, and particularly to the orchardist, who naturally wishes to give up
spraying and fumigating, if he can simply turn out a colony of parasites, sit

60

back, and they will do the work. As the results of the parasite introduc-
tions become better known, and the misstatements and exaggerations with
which they have been surrounded are swept away, there will be a revulsion
of feeling ; results credited to parasites will be explained in other ways ; the
introduced parasites will take the position in our methods of eradicating
pests that their services deserve, and will not be extolled as a cure for every
ill connected with horticulture.

Any observant person can follow the rise of insect life in its native
land under natural surroundings. For example : A tree becomes so badly
infested with scale insects that they form a regular incrustation on the
stem and twigs ; then, as with one of our commonest eucalyptus scale
insects, Eriococcus coriaceous, we soon find a host of hungry insects taking
it in hand. Several of the black ladybird beetles (Rhizobius) devour the
scale both in the beetle and larval state ; then, too, the eggs of the
pretty little moth Thalpocharis coccopkaga are placed among the scale by
the moth, and the resultant larvae not only devour the scale but use up
portions of their outer skin to construct the stout cocoons under which they
are well protected. Other parasites also are attracted by the abundant food
supply, until the twigs are only fringed with ragged bits of scales, and
before the season is over the tree is apparently clean and quite recovers its
former vitality. If, however, you visit the same bush the following season
you will be almost sure to find it more or less infested with the same scale
from the survivors of the last year ; it was only the superabundance of scale
that had been destroyed ; and the infestation will increase until it again
attracts insects looking for food, which again breed up.

Most of the aphides, that are such pests to roses, peach trees, apples, and
other crops, simply swarm and increase so rapidly that one might think they
are going to smother the plants infested ; but as soon as they become in this
state, the syrphid flies, ladybird beetles, lace wings, and hymenopterous
parasites, attracted to their food, take up the work of cleaning the tree.
One cannot walk through a vegetable garden on a fine summer day without
being struck with the immense numbers of tiny little insects floating about
in. the sunshine and hovering over the plants ; most of these, if examined,
would prove to be tiny little wasps that are depositing their eggs in the
cabbage aphis ; there are thousands and thousands of them busily at work in
every cabbage garden in the State where the aphis is in evidence.

It is a question of cause and effect ; the pest must appear before the
parasite or there is no food, and in the forest and uncultivated land this
works out its own salvation ; but under the different conditions of the growth
of cultivated plants and trees, we cannot afford to wait until they are badly
infested. The struggle for existence is quite as an important factor in the
insect world as among the larger creatures ; and in this fight for life we find
not only that the insects that prey, but also those that are preyed upon,
evolve special structures to enable them to escape from their enemies ; just
like the case of the battleship being first protected with 9-inch armour
plate, and then the cannon being invented that can send a projectile to pierce
that 9 inches of plate. Thus a moth produces silk and blends it into a solid
mass when it spins its stout cocoon to protect the helpless pupa ; and as a
general rule the caterpillars that place their cocoons in the most dangerous
exposed places make the stout cocoons, while those that hide in crevices have
only a flimsy silken envelope. Jn the same way that section of the coccidse
known as mealy bugs are much more easily destroyed than the scale insects
like the Lecyniu?n and Aspidiotus, which are closely protected by a thick
skin. These s'ructures, so important to the hunted, are circumvented by

61

the hunters, who are in turn furnished with a most wonderful apparatus,
known as the ovipositor; it is formed of several parts, all used in pricking
the skin of the victim and when depositing eggs in the living host ; the shape
and structure of this ovipositor often tells the naturalist what kind of
insect he may expect to find its possessor attacking. Some little parasitic
wasps that lay their eggs upon the active leaf hopper, which they first have
to catch and then hold, have remarkable pincer-like processes upon their legs
by which they are enabled to accomplish this without any difficulty.

Another important factor in the sole control of pests with useful insects is
that the latter cannot eat up all their food supply, or else they in turn would
die out, while if they leave even a small percentage in the orchard (in
particular) their value is very much discounted.

Again, in a time of short commons the ladybird beetles and their larvae
eat their weaker brothers .and even their own eggs, and the savage little
larvje of the lace wings eat friend and foe without any discrimination.
Several instances have been recorded of introduced useful insects which,
having left what was their natural food in their own home, have turned their
attention to the larvae of a native useful insect. An introduced hymenopterous
parasite did a great deal of damage to one of the native ladybird beetles in
America some years ago by parasitising its pupa\

Changes of climate make an immense difference to insects ; and thousands
of parasites have been forwarded from temperate climates to semi-tropical
countries, with the result that, though surrounded with food when liberated,
they have wandered away and died. This was the case with large quantities
of ladybird beetles that we sent to India arid Ceylon some years ago ; there
was plenty of food for them, but they never became acclimatised, so the
experiment was dropped, and other means were taken by the tea and coffee
planters.

Again, nearly every species of ladybird beetle has its own particular kind
of food ; some only touch mealy bugs, others aphis, while many that live
among foliage infested with hard scales have not the power to turn over the
Lard shield or to bite through it, though they greedily devour the armoured
scale if it is turned over for them. Their food is the young larva) when
they emerge from the protective parent scale under which they have been
hatched.

It has also been the habit to credit the introduced insect with all the dead
scale upon the infested plant, whereas we always find on a badly-infested
tree a large percentage of dead scales that have died or remained undeveloped
from many oth^r C The native useful insects, perhaps more numerous

than the intro luced ones and often quite as active. aiv ignored in the glowing
and usually exaggerated accounts given by the parasite introducer. No\\. if
I'-tion of the ladybird beetles is so doubtful and variable, and there is no
•disputing th- il must be quite evident to the reasonable man that the

fluctuations and changes in the life of minute hymenopterous and dipterous
para^it«'s must be very much more complex, and their establishment in a new
country v. ry difficult, for every parasite has an enemy as well as the other
insect. Li fa-.-t, if the entomologist lakes up the breeding out or the minute
cirnivorous and plant-eating insects found in galls and in the remains of other
insects, it is often a work of givat dilHcultv, even for th" expert, to say which
is the true parasite, iiujualine or the hyper parasite.

Let this internal p;i. effective, so that it increases and multiplies

until it has destroyed all the pest, then it must either die out or find fresh
food supplies ; if it is not thorough in its work, it is of no commercial value.

G2

The very fact that we always find plenty of scale where we find the parasites,
at once proves that the introduced friend is not up to its work in its native
home.

The parasite entomologist says that every insect pest has its effective parasite-
If we look closely into the question we see the fallacy of the argument. The
exact homes of many of the most destructive cosmopolitan pests are well
known, and have been known for many years. Take, for example, the
Colorado Beetle or Potato Bug (Dorypliora decemUAfata),wtih its soft unpro-
tected larva; the Hessian Fly (Oecidomi/ia destructor}; the Chinch Bug
(Blissus leucopteris] ; the Vine Louse ( Phylloxera vastatrix) ; the Cotton Boll
Weevil (Anthonomus grandis) ; and scores of just as serious insect pests ; yet
none of the parasite workers have ever claimed to know their effective
parasite. The artificial conditions of the growth of cultivated plants, and
fruit-trees in particular, where they are grafted, budded, and then pruned
year after year of the woody growth of nature, and the plant tissue that
would form this wood diverted into fruit buds and then into great masses of
soft tissue surrounding the seeds which we know as fruit, so alter the consti-
tution of the tree that it is not able to resist the attacks of insects, fungi, and
bacterial dissases in the same way that the robust seedling growing under
natural conditions would. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why
insects are greater pests under intense cultivation.

There is another great factor in the increase of insect pests, that under
their natural surroundings were perfectly harmless to cultivated plants and
crops ; we cut down and burn up the forests and plough up the grass lands,
and thus destroy the food supplies of the insects that existed there. Many
of the more delicate perish, while the more robust, or those that are fortunate
enough to find plants allied to those destroyed in the newly-planted trees
or field crops suitable for food, turn their attention to the cultivated things,
and adapting themselves to the altered conditions and with a bountiful
supply of food, they often increase to such swarms as to prove the very worst
kind of pest.

We come across many examples of this in the study of economic ento-
mology, arid it is curious to note that they are often not infested with
parasites, or that the parasites do not increase in proportion.

We have an example of this in the increase and the wonderful spread of the
American cotton-boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis) over the great cotton belt
of the United States. Originally a native of Mexico, it was described from
specimens collected near Vera Cruz in 1843, and was known as a pest to-
cotton in 1856. In 1893 it had spread pretty well all over Texas ; has
since moved on over a very large area in Louisiana ; and, in spite of all pre-
cautions, it is working its way northward, following up the fields of cotton.
The State and Federal entomologists are working at and investigating every
detail in the life history of this pest. Last January (1908) the United
States Department issued a Bulletin, entitled "Studies of Parasites of the
Cotton-boll Weevil," by W. Dwight Pierce (Special Field Agent). In this
very interesting report twelve micro-hymenoptera, all small wasps, and
internal parasites, are recorded as having bred from the larvre of the boll
weevil ; but several are doubtful, and only four of them have been obtained
in considerable numbers ; two mites and two beetles are also placed on the
list. Now the genus Anthonomus, to which the boll weevil belongs,
contains a great number of different species ; and the field agent is now
studying the known parasites of all the different species, in the hope of
getting efficient parasites among them. In Professor Hunter's bulletin,
issued in 1905, he points out that though there appears to be very little

63

hope of exterminating the weevil, yet by planting the cotton early and
getting the varieties that mature early, they can obtain much better results
than in the late crops ; while with good cultivation, planting the rows wide
Apart, and the ploughing up of cotton fields and burning up of all cotton
stalks after the crops are harvested, the pest may be very greatly reduced,
and in clean cultivation immense numbers of the adult weevils that hibernate
through the winter would be destroyed.

Another example : The Colorado Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata)
is a native of the Rocky Mountains, where it was, until about 1855, a
common beetle on several weeds belonging to the same natural order of
plants as the cultivated potato. About this date it became acquainted
with the latter more succulent plant. It multiplied in such numbers that it
spread from one end of the States to the other ; and Saunders, in " Insects
injurious to Staple Crops, 1902," says : " It is safe to assert that this pest may
to-day be found almost wherever the potato is grown in the United States
or southern Canada."

In a very similar manner there appeared what is a very serious pest to
the citrus tree in the northern rivers district of New South Wales.
When the virgin forest was cleared off the land near Lismore, among
other trees growing in the scrub was a "wild finger lemon," one of the
few representatives of the citrus family indigenous to Australia. In this
a large longicorn beetle (Uracanthus cryptophaga) lived, the larva boring
holes all through the branches. Orchards planted on this cleared forest land
were attacked by a borer, which on examination proved to be the larva of
this wild lemon longicorn.

The question is often asked, " Why do the grasshopper, locust, and cut- worm
plagues only occur every few years in a very acute state, though we always
have a few about T There are several reasons : First, climatic conditions,
such as a very dry or very wet season, check or increase the development of
the eggs ; next, we find that many of these recurrent plagues gradually increase
in intensity for several years until they have reached their limit ; then para-
sites increase in proportion, or fungus diseases, which are spread by the
immense number of insects contaminating the feeding grounds, kill them off
in millions.

To an observant man it is quite apparent that while great numbers of
insects are preyed upon by other insects, Nature makes provision for this in
the immense reproductive powers of all insects that are liable to excessive
parasitism. The fecundity, apparently useless and wasteful, of some of our
great wood-boring moths (Zeuzera, Leto, &c.) in producing the thousands of
egos contained in their ovaries scattered over the bark, and from which later
very few larvae ever enter the trunk would be appalling but for the thought
that they are the probable food supply of some smaller forms.

Australia stands alone in its isolated fauna and flora, so that there are
certainly not so many native trees in our forests closely allied to cultivated
plants as there are in most parts of the world. If we had not introduced
our orchard pests, we had very few in our orchards from native trees.

Before we can go into the question of pests and parasites, it is only reason-
able that we should first know something about the habits and life histories
of the insects of both pests and parasites before we attempt to alter the
balance of nature, and set " bug to fight bug " — a popular saying in the
United States. Yet we are often told, in the newspapers and elsewhere, that
it is not necessary to be an entomologist to undertake the collection and
introduction of foreign parasites ; that it is a disadvantage, in fact, for one
may be too good an entomologist to be a practical man. The danger of a

practical man who is not a naturalist introducing noxious insects or the
parasites of useful insects is very much greater than if the work be in the
hands of a trained entomologist who knows his work. The latter may not
introduce so many insects, but there is a very much greater possibility of
their being of use. Then the question arises, what are we in Australia to
introduce 1 We have found by experience that we can control scale insects of
all kinds (which are the orchardist's worst enemies), either by spraying or
fumigation ; and that for citrus trees there is nothing so effective and rapid,
when properly carried out as fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas.

We find many natural parasites attacking the different native and intro-
duced scales, both ladybirds and-internal parasites ; but, as in other parts of
the world, they will not give us clean fruit unless they are assisted.

We do not need ladybird beetles, for our insect fauna is so rich in
Coccinellidse that they are hunted for and collected by investigators from all
parts of the world. In fact, as previously noted, some of the keenest advo-
cates, when ladybirds were the fashion, have lately turned a cold shoulder
on these beetles, and claim that the micro-hymenoptera or chalcid wasps are
very much superior.

The American and foreign bulletins for the last twenty years have been
full of descriptions of new species of parasites. Interesting papers on the
development, and calculations based on the percentage that have been bred
from different scales and other pests worked out, until results have been
shown, upon paper, that in theory prove that each particular pest is doomed
to extinction ; but in practice there is always some little weak spot that has
not been taken into account, the pest raises its head again, and we go back
to the old methods. There is no question that, from a scientific point of
view, there is not a more interesting study in the field of economic entomology
than working out the life histories of these interesting little insects ; but
when it comes to hard facts, how many of the much-praised insect parasites
that have been written up have been a factor in relieving the orchardist or
gardener of the labour of spraying, fumigating, and other more mechanical
means of checking the ravages of insect pests 1

The ideal introduced parasite is one that can be bred in a large State or a
private insectarium in sufficient numbers that it can be distributed just at
the critical time when the particular pest it destroys is in evidence, which,
when it is once liberated in the orchard and garden, can establish itself
against all comers in sufficient numbers, adapt itself to its surroundings, and,
when its food supply is exhausted or has reached the vanishing point (a
natural consequence if it is to be an effective parasite), will either find some
other insect to devour, or will hibernate until fresh supplies come into
existence.

The discovery of such an admirable parasite has been proclaimed again
and again ; but it is much to be regretted that it has become the habit of
entomological collectors to enlarge upon the great value of their discovery
before the insects have reached their destination, and to proclaim, not what
it has done, but what it is expected to do when introduced into its new
home.

The results of my investigations into the actual importance of the Spanish
Codling Moth Parasite (CaliephiaUes messer), in relation to its value in the
apple orchards of California, are recorded in the general part of this report,
and have since been borne out by the latest information available. This
large black ichneumon wasp was advertised round the world, figured and

65

described in newspapers and magazines as the " saviour of the apple-grower."
We could throw away our squirts and spray-pots, or send them to the lumber-
room, said the American newspaper man.

The officers of the Horticultural Commission sent out thousands of speci-
mens, and published glowing accounts of its work ; yet in Spain it was
unknown, and of no value in destroying codling moth ; and at the time it
was being written about in the newspapers it had not killed one codling
moth grub in the orchards of California. It has now had several years to
show what it can do, and, if we are to judge from the statements in the
horticultural newspapers, it has clone absolutely nothing outside the msectarium
at the Commissioner's office in San Francisco.

In the official report of the Thirty-fourth Fruit-growers' Convention of the
State of California, held at Riverside last May (1908), Mr. S. A. Pease,
Horticultural Commissioner for San Bernardino, in a paper on " Parasites and
the State Insectary," says : "The introduced parasite for the wide-spread
enemy of the apple-grower, the codling moth (Carpocapsa pomonella), is
Caliephialtes messer. It works well in confinement, when supplied with
larvse or cocoons of the moth ; but, after a number of years' trial in the
orchards, has no friends to sound its praises."

Speaking of the breeding of several native parasites of codling moth
in Cape Colony, Mr. C. P. Lounsbury, Government Entomologist, in his
report for 1907, says: "Professor Koebele, an insect pollector of international
reputation, has told the writer that he has reared six different parasites from
tin- <• )dling moth in California, yet in that country it is about as necessary to
spray to save apples and p?ars from the pest as it in the infested parts of the
Cape Colony ; and spraying will probably continue to be deemed necessary,
notwithstanding all the parasites that may be found and introduced. Con-
siderable interest was aroused at the Cape about two years ago over the
alleged success of a parasite (Caliephialtes messer) introduced into California
•from Spain by Mr. George Compere. While in America last year the writer
inquired about this insect. It breeds very well in confinement, and has
been distributed to various parts of the State ; but it is exaggeration to;;ay that
it has yet proved of any practical value, or that it has given evidence that
it will."

This is the parasite that each of theGovernments of the Australian States were
asked to pay £1,000 for the privilege of receiving from the Commissioner rf
Hortieultuiv of California, and the New South Wales Department of Agricul-
ture was severely criticised by the fruit-growers and newspaper correspondents
for not accepting the offer. •

llesides the larva of a small soldier beetle, which gets under the bandages
and devours a few codling moth grubs, I have described four well defined
codling moth parasites which infest the larva- and pup*e ; and there are
several other i.yrnenopterous parasites that we have bred in small numbers,
but none of them are numerous enough to make an appreciable difference to
the codling moth pest. The most promising is Goniozus antipodum, a little
proctotrupid wasp that was described by Westwood, from Adelaide, in 1874 ;
and. though it has been rediscovered there a^iin last year, is still a rare
insect after thirty y»-ai •.-' existence among the apple orchards.

We have only to study the life history of the oodling moth to understand
how it has managed to exist, propagate, and hold its own for at least the last
thousand years as an apple pf-st. The tiny e_-^, too insignificant for the
ordinary e*;^ parasitic hymenoptera, is not long in danger, for as soon as the
tiny grub is hatched it burrows into the fruit away from danger; .there it
§ 39557 C

66

feeds, and as it increases in size works toward the seeds of the fruit.
Most moths spin a cocoon and pupate at once, but the codling moth does, not
spin a cocoon in its food, but works its way out through the fruit and drops
to the ground if the apple has not fallen before it has finished its larval stage.
It doss not give its enemies many chances, but drops or crawls out of the
fruit in the night and immediately hunts round for a hiding place, the
deeper and more secluded the better. In this shelter, however, though it
spins a more or less compact cocoon of silken fibre, it does not pupate and at
once turn into a helpless pupa unable to crawl away from danger as is the
usual procedure of moth grubs ; but it remains all the winter a perfect cater-
pillar, and though enclosad in a loose silken cocoon, it is able and ready to
crawl away and hide if disturbed by its shelter being torn down and its
cocoon exposed. Its time of pupation is short, a few weeks at most under
•ordinary circumstances.

The perfect moth has such a wonderful protective tint, working only at
night and hiding during the day, that three-quarters of the orchardists have
"never seen a specimen, and could not identify it from a score of other harmless
moths common in the orchard. It has not even the very common habit of
the moths of coming to a light, and though a number of " codling moth traps"
have been tried with a lamp and oil, they are found to catch everything but
the moth for which they were invented.

From the study of the life history of the codling moth, it is useless to
expect to find a perfect parasite for this pest in the insect world. We are
dealing with highly cultivated fruit and with a highly developed insect that
damages it ; its instinct of self-preservation is so highly developed that its
iirst duty when it emerges from the apple is to hide in the deepest cracks
and crannies in the tree trunk out of sight and reach of its enemies.

The other great fruit pest, or rather group of fruit pests, are the fruit-flies, of
Tvhich the cosmopolitan species Ceratitis capitata is known in Australia as the
Mediterranean Fruit Fly. We have another example of an evidently worth-
less and much praised parasite for this fly in the notorious Staphylinid
beetle, said to be a complete parasite of this particular fruit-fly. It was
collected in Bahia, Brazil, and introduced into Western Australia by their
entomologist, who took several trips to that part of South America under
the impression that this was the native home of this particular fruit-fly.

Wonderful stories were told of its voracity and its deadly enmity to fruit-
fly maggots and pupae ; how it had been securely established at great cost to
that State in their citrus orchards ; and it was urged by our fruit-growers
that we should obtain this parasite at any cost ; yet it had not been proved
that it had killed a single fruit-fly maggot in a West Australian orchard.
So much attention, however, was called to this reputed parasite in the fruit-
growing world, that the entomologists of Cape Colony and Natal urged their
respective Governments to investigate the matter. Cape Colony voted .£500 ;
Natal, £375 ; Transvaal, £300 ; and Orange River Colony, £125 ; or a total
of £1,300 to provide funds. Thus provided, Messrs. Lounsbury and Fuller
set out for Bahia to secure supplies of this Staphylinid beetle, to introduce
them into the South African orchards.

How they succeeded, and what they thought of the value of this parasite,
is told in Mr. Lounsbury's Report, "Natural Enemies of the Fruit Fly,"
published in the Agricultural Journal of Cape Colony, September and
October, 1905.

Both these gentlemen are strong advocates of the introduced parasite
theory, so that their reports must be taken as an impartial review of the
whole question ; and though Mr. Fuller did not remain very long in South

G7

America, Mr. Lonnsbury took an extended trip down th3 South American
coast, but found even worse conditions in fruit-fly infestation than he had in
South Africa. In the district round Bahia, described by the West Australian
entomologist as being "the fruit district of Brazil" and yet almost free from
fruit-flies on account of parasites, Lounsbury said he found no commercial
orchards ; and speaking of the Brazilian cherry he says : " My impression is
that nearly every fruit g^ts punctured if allowed to fully ripen upon the
plant." Mr. Fuller counted 280 puparia from one lot of pilangas he gathered,
and from them emerged 124 adult fruit-flies and 77 parasites; from another
lot he collected on llth March in the same locality he obtained 141 puparia,
and from these emerged 47 fruit-flies and 28 parasites. The latter consisted
of 221 fruits — large and small, ripe and unripe — shaken from the bushes.
The extent of parasitism in both cases works out at about 38 per cent.

The parasite is a minute wasp (Opiellus trimiculatus). Fuller says : "The
effective parasitism of this species reaches its maximum in small fruits with
thin pulp, and the effectiveness falls appreciably in proportion to the depth
or thickness of the pulp of the fruit attacked by the Hy."

None of these hymenopterous parasites, though so abundant, were con-
sidered sufficiently effective, and no efforts were made to introduce them into
Africa. It was the Staphylinid beetle that these investigators had gone to
procure, but with careful search they could not find any. It may have been
the wrong season, but it does not say much for the parasite if the fruit-flies,
were busy all the year and the beetles only a few months. In fact, the
case was that the fruit had to become rotten with fruit-fly maggots, and fall
to the ground before the predaceous scavenger beetles could take a hand in
the destruction of the maggots.

Messrs. Lounsbury and Fuller returned to South Africa without getting a
single effective parasite, or even seeing a Staphylinid beetle at work in the
orchards, and Mr. Fuller's remarks in the journal of the Natal Department
of Agriculture are even more emphatic than Mr. Lounsbury's in their
condemnation of the Staphylinid beetle.

Yet, in his report, " Introduction of the Fruit-fly Parasite (Journal of the
Department of Agriculture, 1904), Mr. Compere concluded with the follow-
ing statement : " The Staphylinidse beetles beyond question destroy the
major part of the fruit-fly maggots in Brazil, and also destroy a great number
of parasites as well, eating every maggot with which they como in contact,
not discriminating between those parasitised and those that are not." He
says, too : " In Brazil, the same as in India, nature's forces controlling these
destructive fruit-flies is complete." Only a few months later Lounsbury and
Fuller found that all down the Brazilian coast it was difficult to obtain a
fruit that had not been punctured by a fly. The officers of the West
Australian Department of Agriculture have known quite well for some
years that this beetle is not only no check upon fruit-fly in the West
Australian orchard", but that it had never even been established outside
their insectarium, and there they died out ; yet they still publish glowing
accounts of its value, as can be seen in their official bulletin, " The Selector's
Guide to the Crown Lands of Western Australia." On pige 20, the
successful introduction is stated as a fact. " Fruit Pests : Successful Work
of the State Entomologist." Now, in regard to the statement that nature
controls the destructive fruit-flies in India, if it means that they are kept
below the point where they become a pest, it is certainly not true.

The fruit-flies of the genus Dacus, belonging to several specie.", are so
abundant in all the fruit-growing districts of India and Ceylon, that

68

commercial fruit-growing is just as difficult a problem as it is in Australia,
Africa, and South America. If the fruit has to become rotten with fruit-
fly maggots before parasites can be bred out, as it does in the guavas and
mangoes in Bangalore, whence these parasites were obtained, and where the
two species of fruit-fly, which the parasites infest, simply swarm through the
gardens and parks, they might just as well face the situation at once, and
niake their orchardists clear up and destroy infested fruit, as is being done
in all parts of the world at the present time. I was told in Perth, Western
Australia, "That we cannot get our orchardists to clean up their orchards,
so we must have parasites."

All the evidence shows that while we may succeed with parasites to a
certain extent, and in some instances for scale insects, aphis, and even cut-
worms, and other lepidopterous larvae, yet, we may make up our minds that
under the present conditions of fruit-growing, we will have to resort to other
methods in reducing these two pests (codling moth and fruit-flies). The life
history of the true fruit-flies is just as peculiar in its way as that of the
codling moth. The female fruit-fly punctures the ripening fruit with a
wonderfully constructed ovipositor, at the same time depositing her eggs well
through the tough skin in the tissue beneath, and thus from the very first
moment the eggs are in a much more secure position than even those of the
codling moth. When the eggs hatch, the tiny moving maggot, enveloped in
the decomposing tissue of the fruit, is a very difficult host for the hymenop-
terous enemy on the outside to locate and stab while depositing its eggs in
the maggot, and as the maggots very sx>n work inwards they soon get beyond
the range of any parasite, especially whea deposited on such fruits as peaches
and oranges.

Therefore, while in the maggot state, sheltered in the fruit upon the tree,
the fruit-fly maggot* are safe from most enemies. Then, in the ordinary
course of events the damaged fruit falls to the ground, and the maggots if
not full grown will remain in the decaying matter, and are still safe from
most enemies. The majority of them burrow into the ground underneath
the fallen fruit, and are still out of sight of their eaemies ; arid it is only
when the fallen fruit is disturbed bofore they have burrowed into the soil,
that the predaceous parasites have the chance of destroying them. Once
hidden in the ground they are comparatively safe from other insect enemies.
I consider, as do nearly all leading entomologists who have given the matter
of fruit-flies any attention, that it is very improbable that any internal
parasite will ever make any impression on this pest in the case of com-
mercial fruit, such as oranges, peaches, tfec. In all cases where parasites have
been bred, it has been from small, wild, or hard-fleshed fruits, and though
parasites may be quite numerous among some of the wild fruits, yet they
are not able to injure the larva? in large fruits.

. The parasites in the Mexican Fruit Fly (Trypeta ludens) have never, as far
as I could learn, been bred from infested oranges, but from small fruit, like
the guava and native mango. The parasites in southern India are bred from
infested guavas, not from the thick-fleshed mango, in which the Indian Fruit
Fly (DacuH ferrugineus] is common; and among the many thousand Mediterra-
nean and Queensland Fruit Fly larvae and pupae we have handled and bred
from citrus fruits and peaches, we have only bred a few odd parasites. It is
•one thing to demonstrate to the public the ability of a hymenopterous
parasite to deposit its eggs in the exposed larva? and pupa3 of codling moth
or fruit-fly ; but quite another for that same parasite to work or do any

ood in the orchard.

69

If a system or theory be true, it will not require to be bolstered up with
misstatements and half truths ; and while American, European, and Australian
economic entomologists are quite ready to acknowledge that the field of
experiments with parasites is a wide one, and worthy of scientific investiga-
tion, as is shown by the work of many of them, they do not subscribe to the
Californian school, who claim that everything can be controlled with the
spreading of all kinds of parasites ; that if you have codling moth, scale, or
fruit-fly, just send into the office of the Horticultural Commissioners, and by
return of post you will have a package of parasites of the particular pest
forwarded, which you have only to liberate, and the insects do the rest. In
fact, the existence of such a theory as universal parasitism has not only done
a great deal of harm to the value of economic entomology, but to the pro-
ducers themselves. In New South Wales it delayed the passing of the very
necessary Vegetation Diseases Bill for some years ; for, as soon as the Depart-
ment of Agriculture proposed to 'introduce a Bill to deal with the orchard
pests, they were met with the natural, if mistaken, outcry, " Why should we
be made to clean up our orchards, and spend money, when the Department
can send out to other countries and get us parasites that will do all that is
needed?" "Look at California," we were told, not knowing that under the
rule of the State Board of Horticulture the most drastic laws and regulations
in the world can be enforced against an infested orchard or larger area,
backed by all the powers of the State of California. Cutting down, rooting out,
and burning up orchards and gardens, can be carried out without consulting
the owners.

Judging from former scares, such as the " White Fly," I am quite certain
that, if fruit-fly were to suddenly appear in any of the citrus orchards of
California, they would not wait to get parasites, but would have the whole
place dealt with at once by mechanical methods.

When, however, we come beyond this branch of the parasitic question, and
propose to use a savage, carnivorous ant from another country to destroy
3'oung rabbits — as a gentleman in South Africa proposed to send us a few years
ago, and was actually done in Texas, where Cook brought a tropical ant from
Guatemala to devour the Mexican boll weevil — we come to more serious and
wide-reaching results from entomology run mad.

Another phase of the work is the introduction of insects that are injurious
to plants in their o\vn country to destroy similar vegetation in another
country. Such was the introduction a few years ago, at the instigation of
the officers of the Sugar Planters' Association, of all the known insects that
destroy the Ian tana in Mexico into the Hawaiian Islands, to kill out this
shrub, which lias overrun the waste lands of these islands. This, also,
appealed to some of our landholders on the northern coast lands of New
South Wales, where the same kind of lantana bush occupies much of the
neglected lands from which the forest has been cleared. They entered into
correspondence with the authorities at Honolulu, and, on their advice, urged
our Government to introduce them, and turn about a dozen sorts of plant-
eating insects into the forests of our northern rivers. No thought was given
to the utterly different conditions in Australia of our forests. It was, too,
and is still, a very doubtful experiment in Hawaii, even if it ever does kill
out every root of lantana ; but it would have been criminal to allow an
introduction of such insects, most of which could do an immense amount of
damage to our cultivation and native forests.

In every entomological laboratory let us have a well-equipped, up-to-date
insectarium, where the development of both friendly and injurious insects
can be studied under natural conditions ; and if we find a parasite that is

70

abundant enough to make an impression upon any pest, let us encourage it
by every means in our power. In such studies we will find the key to many
problems in economic work undreamed of before the commercial importance
of applied entomology came to the assistance of the farmer, the gardener, the
merchant, and many other interested people.

There is, however, neither sense nor reason in asserting that because one
breeds a number of parasites from some partiular pest that the pest is;
doomed. Every working entomologist has cabinets full of specimens of
insects that he has bred from other insects or galls — all true parasites — but
he also knows their limitations.

In conclusion, I would say, let the whole question be judged on its results.
Allow that one or two experiments have shown perfect results ; yet because,
mealy bugs or scale insects in a restricted locality have once or twice been,
destroyed by parasites, that can be no reason why the parasite cure alone,
should be forced upon anyone.

Its admirers should be perfectly honest ; and if a friendly-introduced insect
from which, rightly or wrongly, great things had been expected turns out on.
further tria.1 to be a failure, they should say so ; and they should never
proclaim results for a parasite till those results have actually been proved in
its adopted country, for the wisest can never be sure of the results of any
experiment.

Economic entomology is a great commercial science, and those at work for
its far-reaching interests could do it no greater harm than by misleading or
unproved statements.

I append some notes and the opinions of some of the leading entomologists:
of the world on the broad question of parasites.

H. Maxwell Lefroy, Imperial Entomologist of India, says, in his " Indian
Insect Pests, 1906" : — "Artificial use of Checks. — A subject that has unfor-
tunately attracted general attention is the fascinating one of using one insect
to destroy another. We know that there are parasites, predators, and the
like, which destroy insect life. The inference is that we should be able to
check all our pests by this means. Entomologists have devoted great atten-
tion to this point, with an almost complete record of failure. In one instance,
under very peculiar conditions, success was attained, a ladybird beetle being
introduced to destroy a virulent insect pest. The particular conditions
in this case were that the pest was newly introduced, had no enemies
in the locality to which it was introduced, and could be traced to the
country whence it came. . : . . No parasite, no enemy, will entirely
destroy an insect that is established throughout India, and there is
no advantage to be gained by introducing fresh parasites. There is, also,,
no ground for believing that in the near future we shall be able to artificially
employ fungoid and bacterial diseases in the destruction of insect pests ; they
appear to require special climatic conditions (e.g., very moist heat), and this
places the matter beyond our control."

Dr. James Fletcher (Entomologist and Botanist to the Dominion of Canada)
says, in speaking about scale insects (" The Report of the Select Standing
Committee, Orchard Pests, Insecticides, and Farm Weeds, 1906-7, page 121»
Parasites ") : — " It has always been a most attractive field of investigation,
for all entomologists to try and discover, in their original homes, and intro-
duce the parasites of insect pests, which have increased unduly when brought
into other countries without their natural enemies. Notwithstanding the
fact that some of the best investigators have engaged in this work, and much
time and money has been devoted to it, it has been found an exceedingly
difficult matter to establish thes3 useful friends in a new home ; and it would

71

appear that it is not an entirely parallel problem to introduce a certain insect
which thrives and increases in a new home, and, also, to colonise its controlling
enemies. Predaceous enemies and parasites can only thrive and increase as
long as they have an abundant supply of the insects upon which they feed,
because as soon as they have reduced the numbers of their hosts, so that they
do not injure our crops, they have also brought down their own food supply,
and to that extent have contributed to their own extinction." Further on,
he says : — " Parasites not as efficient as Spraying. — Where substantially clean
fruit must be had, as for snipping and export purposes, spraying, or some
other direct means of control, must be practised ; and now that an inexpensive
tree-wash for the San Jose scale has been discovered, it is very much to the
advantage of everyone to spray regulaily, rather than trust to control by
natural enemies."

In a paper, " Scale Insects and their Enemies in California," contributed
by Professor J. B. Smith, State Entomologist in New Jersey (Bulletin 6,
United States Department of 'Agriculture, 1896), he makes the following
statements, that are now more or less endorsed by Mr. S. A. Pease, in his
paper, " Parasites and the State Insectary," in the Official Report of the
Thirty-fourth Fruitgrowers Convention, California, 1908: — "As to the
predaceous insects introduced from Australia, their importance in California
has been-grossly exaggerated. Up to the present time they have not estab-
lished themselves permanently in more than two counties in the State, and in
regions where thousands and tens of thousands have been introduced, they have
died out almost completely. Very little of the evidence that is given as to the
work of these insects is reliable. Whenever any decrease of black scale is
observed, and there is any Rhizobius ventralis about, this insect is said to
have been cleared by this insect, or, rather, the scale destroyed ; it was found
that while the scales were dead, there was no sign of an injury such as would
have been made by feeding upon it by either the larva or adult of Rhizobius
xentralis. No reliable observations have been made, and a very large pro-
portion of what is asserted is guesswork. Rhizobius debilis, about which so
much has been published, and for which so much has been claimed, was not
found in California, and there is every reason to believe that the insect has
died out entirely. In most cases the common Californian Scymnus margini-
collis is mistaken for Rhizobius debilis, and sometimes for lophantce as well.
RJiyzobius debilis does not occur in any of the collections in California except

In imported specimens Perhaps Orcus chalybeus should be

referred to here, because that is still to be found in small numbers in one
orchard not far from Los Angeles. It has not increased, however, since the
first year or two, and, on the contrary, seems rather to be d^ing out, just
as 0. autralasire did two years previously. Taking everything into con-
sideration, there is nothing that warrants the assertions put forth by the
horticulturists of California."

" There is no doubt that the native parasites of scale insects are efficient
in keeping down the insects to some extent ; but of the sixty species imported
by Koebele, in many thousands of specimens there is not one that can be con-
sidered a success at the present time. Of course, there is a belief to the
<contrary, and some superficial evidence to support it ; but there is, at least,
as much evidence in the opposite direction, and it seems to me that the state
of affairs hardly warrants the discontinuance of destructive measures against
the injurious insects."

S. A. Pease, of San Bernardino, in his interesting paper previously quoted,
read before the Thirty-fourth Fruit-growers' Convention of California, last
May, says : — " Since 1893, we have had periodical reports that a perfect

72

parasite has been introduced that would keep in perfect check widespread
pest and life destroyer of fruit and other trees, the black scale, Lecanium
(Saisettia) olece. It was about this time that JRhizobius ventralis and JR.
debilis, and E. toowoomlce or lopliantce were acquired. Those, with the aid
of Tomocera californica and Ghrysopa caltfbrnica, did some splendid work
along the coast. Indeed, they made such a good showing that orchardists in
the interior had great hopes that they would control the scale everywhere.
Hundreds of thousands of them were colonised in every section of the southern
orchards, but after repeated trials, and after waiting a number of years for
them to be acclimated to our drier and hotter interior climate, we were
forced to give them up, and again resort to fumigation and spraying to relieve
the orchards."

Speaking further on of the olive scale parasite, Scutellista cyanea, intro-
duced from South Africa into California in 1901, he says : — " They increased
so rapidly that it was commonly thought that, finally, we had the right enemy
for the black scale, and that the pest wtis doomed. In two years' time I saw
in our country orchards where at least 60 per cent, of the black scale was-
parasitized in the month of August, and 'I, with the rest, thought that our
troubles with the black scale were at an end. The following April I looked
for a colony, but could find not find one. The same results had to be recorded
for May. In June, I could find a very few, as also in July. In thejatter part
of August they were very numerous again ; but I looked further this time, and
I found that while in some instances 60 per cent, of the old scale was para-
sitised, still from 75 to 90 per cent, of the young scale had hatched out on
the leaves and limbs of the trees."

Among the most praised ladybird beetles introduced from Australia, where
it is certainly one of our best mealy-bug destroyers, is Cryptolcemus mon-
trouzieri, which did good service in Honolulu ; yet, in the same report, Mr.
Pease says : — " Mealy bugs (Pseudococcus cilri) bid fair to be a most serious
trouble. They have a number of enemies (Cryptcilo&mus montrouzieri), but
their control of the insect is only partial, and so' not satisfactory."

Professor A. J. Cook, another Calif ornian authority on parasites, speaking
at the same fruit-growers' convention, says, after praising both good and
doubtful insects : — " We must gas unless our friends are masters of the
situation. To wait for the Scutellista or golden chalcid until our groves are
ruined, or materially injured, by the black or yellow scale is the height of
folly. The wise course would seem to be to fight our pests by the best
method, unless our enemies are sufficient to keep them down ; and in case
we do not have efficient parasites or predaceous species, to hunt for them
with the keenest vision we can secure."

73

PART III.
Fruit Flies.

A general account of the flies belonging to the family Trt/petidce that damage sound fruit,
with descriptions of the different species (some described as new), and their habits,
range, and suggestions for destroying them.

THE group of insects known as " Fruit Flies," though so much before the
public at present, need some definition, for it is a common thing for the
orchardist to assume that any small fly hovering round damaged or rotting
fruit is the "fruit-fly" and any maggot in the mass to be the destructive
fruit-fly maggot. In a great many cases the latter are species that have no
connection with the true pests, that never damage sound fruit, and are
simply attracted by the decaying matter, and really act as scavengers. The
fruit-flies are a well-defined group of the order Diptera (two-winged flies),
and belong to the family Trypetidw.

This family comprises a large number of rather small flies, usually with
mottled or banded wings ; they are remarkable for their curious habits in
the larval state in producing galls upon plants, or in mining in the tissue of
the stems, leaves, or flowers of different plants, or in the flesh of ripening
fruit. The females, with their% needle-like ovipositors, puncture the plant
and deposit the eggs beneath in the tissue.

In Australia we have a number of indigenous species that form galls ; but
the group that we are dealing with here are those that have the habit of
depositing their eggs in the fruit of wild or cultivated plants, and comprise
some of the most serious pests that the orchardist and gardener have to fight
against. Some of these are cosmopolitan and are found in many countries,
while others are restricted in their range ; but whenever a species attacks
cultivated fruit it can very easily be introduced into a new country, either
in the larval (maggot) or pupal (chrysalis) stage.

Eggs deposited in fruit may be transported in apparently sound fruit and
on transit may develop days afterwards, or the more or less developed
maggots may reach maturity, crawl out of the fruit, and pupate in a crevice
in the case or among the packing, and then after the contents of the case
have been destroyed it may develop, emerge as a perfect fly capable of doing
untold damage. There are records proving that the pupae have been found
in the soil round the roots of imported plants that have been grown in
infested districts.

The destructive species of the family Trt/petidce have been described by
many entomologists, and are comprised in about half a dozen genera. In the
north-eastern States of North America there are two common orchard pests
which, originally placed in the genus Trypeta, have, after closer examination,
been placed in the genus Ragoletis,^ group of small flies with four bristles on
the scutellum and black cross bands on the wings. The apple maggot
(Ragoletis pomonella), a native of North America, where it fed upon haws
and crab apples growing in the forests, is often a very serious apple pest in
New York State. When I was at Cornell University, Ithaca, in the early
partf of October, the apples growing on the College campus were full of
maggote. A second species (R. cerasi, "The Cherry Fruit Fly ') has a
similar range in the United States, sometimes causing considerable damage

74

in the cherry orchards. One or two species are also found in Europe. The
genus Trypeta contains a number of gall- producing species, but there are also-
several that have turned their attention to fruit in this genus, of which
Trypeta ludens, the "orange fly" of Mexico, is a typical example.

The Mediterranean fruit-fly is placed in the genus Ceratitis, and represents
a world-wide pest. A number of allied species have been described from
southern Africa and Mauritius.

Some species have been described and placed in other genera, which, after
closer examination by specialists, may be found to belong to some of the above
typical groups.

The maggots of the typical species of Trypetidce that infest fruit are so
much alike in general form and structure that a general description of one
species will define them all. There are a few minor points of difference known
to the entomologist such as the shape, number, and situation of the spiracles
that are placed on the last segment and surrounded with a rosette-like process.

The maggots vary in colour (according to their food) from semitrans-
parent white to yellow of all shades to pink and red, and the average
length of a full-grown one is ^ an inch in length. They can be best
described as rather slender, naked, cylindrical grubs, tapering from the broader
truncate anal segment to the front of the head (or cephalic segment), which
comes to a blunt tip, and contains a pair of black, hard, retractile booklets or
jaws. With the aid of these jaws and with the power of contracting the
segments of the body, they can move quickly through the damaged tissue of
the fruit, which they tear with these curved jaws ; and also, when full grown,
can work their way into the soil when they leave the fruit to pupate, and so
are very soon out of sight if placed on loose soil. They also have the power,
particularly if placed on a smooth surface, of curving the ends of the body
round and springing up a considerable height — like the " jumper" maggots in
cheese.

They all feed in the same manner, commencing as soon as they hatch from
the eggs, to feed upon the surrounding tissue ; and in ripe fruit the infested
area soon spreads and forms a putrid mass extending to the centre,
when the fruit fills to the ground. I do not think that the maggots
drop from the hanging frui*-, except on rare occasions ; but as many of the
maggots are not fully developed when the fruit falls, they remain until fully
fed before they crawl into the soil beneath.

Their action upon this tissue of different fruits is characteristic, for while
in the orange, peach, and soft ripening fruits it all becomes a putrid mass,,
in unripe peaches it is more a network of damaged tissue in the early stages,
and where apples and pears are attacked their mining becomes a series of
galleries or small chambers before the final decay.

This is so noticeable in the work of the apple maggot in America,
(Ragoletis pomonella) that it is often called the " railroad maggot." When
full grown the maggots crawl out through the underside of the fruit, and
thus resting on the soil they work their way downward to a depth of J to
sometimes 2 inches if the soil is very loose, but usually more will be found
less "than an inch under the remains of the fruit.

They do not take long to transform from the soft maggot to the oval hard
pupa, the outer skin of the maegot changing into a stout shell-like case of
yellow or reddish brown tint. Enclosed in this protective covering, the final
transformation to the perfect fly takes place. Then, when ready to emerge,
it bursts the front of the shell off and works its way up to the surface of the
soil, a perfect fruit-fly.

75

The habits and life histories of several species have been closely studied
by many entomologists during the last twenty years, so that we know the
conditions under which we have to work against them. Under ordinary
conditions an immense number of eggs never hatch out through want of
heat in the early part of winter, and the action of the fly in ovipositing
only causes a dull coloured-spot to appear on the skin of the orange, the
•*' sting mark " of the orchardist. In the maggot stage many get exposed and
killed, and there must be also a very large percentage of perfect flies that
after they emerge from the pupae cases never reach the surface. We know
that in the dry hot seasons fruit-flies are always worse, while after a very wet
winter they are never so plentiful. The obvious reason is, that when the
•orchard soil is sodden and beaten down by rain storms it becomes so hard
and caked that any flies from deeply -buried pupae have a very small chance
of getting through to the surface.

In all countries where irrigation is carried out in a systematic manner
nnd the ground flooded in basins round the trees at regular intervals, though
the fruit-fly is a well known pest, it comes and goes, and is not constantly in.
evidence as in Australia and Africa, where conditions are so different. In
southern Spain and Sicily this is one of the great factors in the checks upon
the increase of fruit-flies.

Among all the pests that have turned their attention to cultivated fruit
there is no group so well protected from natural enemies as the fruit-flies.
•From the time they emerge from the eggs to the time they burrow beneath
the fruit into the soil they are feeding and working beyond the reach
of many parasites, predaceous insects, and birds that would otherwise
feed upon them. Free to a great extent from enemies that reduce the
number of other insects, they are also safe from all sprays and contact
poisons while doing the damage ; sprays will not kill them, and fumigation
with gas, so deadly to scale insects, will not affect them. We have, there-
fore, to resort to different methods in dealing with them. We must either
destroy, drive away, or capture the perfect flies before they can lay their
•eggs, or else destroy the infested fruit containing the eggs and maggots. In
every country where action has been taken by the Government to protect
the gardener and orchardist against himself or his careless neighbours, this
has been recognised, and Fruit-fly Destruction Acts have come into force, in
which the main principle has been the inspection of orchards, and the
•compulsory cleaning-up and destruction of all infested fruit. In Mexico the
Department of Fomento obtained a grant of money to be expended in the
fruit-fly infested orange orchards of Morelo*. The Commission of Parasi-
tologia Agricola, in whose hands the work was placed, formulated the
following rules : —

(1) Gather each day all mangoes, lemons, and oranges which may have

fallen from the trees, and deposit them in a clean corner of the
orchard.

(2) Destroy all fruit so accumulated at least once a-week.

(3) It is preferable to destroy the fruit by burning, but it may be

disposed of by burial, and when buried it should be covered with
at least fifty centimetres (about 20 inches) of soil.

(4) If the same worm exists in the guava, this fruit should also ba

destroyed in the same manner.

I have described in my second Progress Report how I saw this work
•carried out in Mexico by the inspectors at Yutapec.

76

The only parasite that has been found attacking this fruit-fly is a small
red braconid wasp, with a black head and dark-coloured wings, named
Cratosiptta rudibunda. Isaacs states in his report (1905) : "The parasite
has not as yet done any effective work on the Trypeta ludens, as investiga-
tions have shown that not over 10 to 15 per cent, of the maggots are
parasitised. Every effort is being made to encourage the propagation of
the parasite, and great hopes are entertained that it may yet overtake the
plague and keep it in check."

Koebele, who gave me specimens of this parasite he had bred from mangoes,
obtained in the Mexican markets, told me he had never bred it from infested
oranges. Professor A. L. Herrera, the Chief of the Entomological Staff at
Mexico City, informed me that the parasites had made no difference to the
pest up to the time of my visit (October, 1907).

In consequence of the presence of , this fly in Mexican orchards, the State
Board of Horticulture prohibited the importation of Mexican oranges into
the State, and the railways running between the two States refused them as
freight. Mr. Craw caused all cars used for transportation of Mexican oranges,
to be disinfected with steam before they could be again used in California.

In Bermuda an Act on very similar lines came into law only last year,
and has, according to Mr. Harris, already made a marked difference in the
numbers and damage caused by their fruit-fly pest.

There are no special laws in the southern countries of Europe and northern
Africa against fruit-flies, but in all countries where these pests are known,
all the entomologists have urged the orchardists to destroy as much as they
can of the infested fruit.

In the Turkish village of Lefka, in Cyprus, where a large quantity of
oranges are grown, I found no traces of fruit-flies, probably because every
fallen fruit was eaten clean out of the skin by rats.

Besides the destruction of the maggots in the fruit, we can also destroy
many of the adult flies, on account of their liking for certain oils. It was
discovered about two years ago in Western Australia that if a dish con-
taining kerosene was placed out in an orchard, the Mediterranean fruit-fly
was attracted by the scent and flew into the oil. This was confirmed when
suitable tins were placed among infested trees, for thousands were taken in
a few days ; and wherever tried it has had the same effect upon this species.
This oil, however, had no charms for the Queensland fruit-fly when it was
tried in Queensland. While experimenting in the orchards of India, where
a species closely allied to the Queensland fly was very abundant, Mr. Hewlett
discovered that citronella oil spread on some leaves, on a stone, or smeared
upon a handkerchief, attracted this and an allied species, but had no attrac-
tions for a third larger species that destroyed the melons and gourds. I
took a thousand specimens of this fruit-fly (Dacus ferrug ineus) with half-a-
dozen sweeps of my net over some leaves upon which we had placed oil the
previous evening. One remarkable thing was that when we came to examine
them we found that all the specimens were males. Further experiments
right through the season should prove whether this is always the case ; but
even so, the destruction of all the males would soon lead to infertile females.
If other oil can be found to attract other species, they can be mixed with
poison or used in traps, and will become a very effective aid in controlling
the pest.

The Olive Fly (Dacua olea) is one of the most serious insect pests in the
world at the present time, for last year it destroyed so large a percentage of
the olive crop that it was estimated that the loss in olive oil due to the

77

damage by the olive fly totalled £1,000,000. In dealing with this pest, a
\vry large reward is offered by the Italian Government for any remedy or
method to check the- pest.

Professor Berlese, the celebrated Italian zoologist, stationed at Florence,
has experimented with a sweet poisoned spray, consisting of honey, treacle,
arsenic, and water. The formula is —

Mellasa (in English molasses) ... ... ... 40

Miele (honey) ' 40

Arsenate of potassi ...

Aqua (water) ... ... ... ... ... 18

The spraying of the trees was very successful in the experiments carried
out except that it was very easily washed off, and also that in some instances
a number of bees were killed.

The Professor is now experimenting with a similar mixture placed in small
bottles hung up on the branches of the trees. Into each bottle is inserted
several long cotton threads, forming loose bundles hanging several feet, down
which the poisoned liquid flows, and the flies find a ready resting-place while
they sip the poison.

I have written to Professor Berlese, and asked him to try the addition of
citronella oil to his poisoned mixture, which he calls Dacacide, and to let me
know whether it attracts the olive fly. His assistant informed me, when at
his laboratories in Florence, that the majority of the flies killed with Dacacide
were males.

In South Africa, where fruit-flies are probably as bad as any place in the
world, fine netting was used to protect the fruit on the trees from the
flies, but it was so expensive on a large scale that its use was not extended,
and it was only when there was a very valuable crop that it paid.

Where the orchard is kept in good condition, domestic poultry, particu-
larly hens which have the scratching habit highly developed, no doubt, if given
the run of the orchard, will unearth a lot of pupae and destroy many in all
stages of growth.

Family — Trypetidce .

All the members of the true fruit-flies are placed in this family of the
Diptera, and are classified by most authorities as a division or group known
as the Muse idee, which it is not necessary to define here.

Williston in his "^North American Diptera" (second edition), 1896, gives
the following definition : —

" Head hemispherical ; face nearly perpendicular in profile, or somewhat
retreating, without distinct vibrissae ; front broad, bristly on the sides, the
lower frou to-orbital bristles situated close to the border of the eyes; antennae
decumbent, short, rarely elongated ; abdomen, composed of four or five seg-
ments ; genitalia of the males but little exposed ; the ovipositor jointed,
more or less projecting ; wings rather large ; auxiliary vein present, ending
steeply and obscurely in or near the border ; posterior basal cell and the anal
cell distinct, the latter often drawn out into an acute, often prolonged,
point ; wings usually with dark markings ; legs moderately long ; tibiae
without preapical bristle ; proboscis moderately long, usually with broad
label'a, sometimes long, and the narrow labella folding backward."

78

The family contains a number of small flies, many of which have curiously
mottled wings. Some of them produce galls upon plants ; the larvae of
others mine in the plant tissue without producing galls ; and many are very
destructive pests to fruit. They are well represented in Australia by a
number of indigenous species, some of which produce galls, such as Tephritis,
sp., which forms large galls upon the twigs of the Snow Bush (Aster ramulosa),
and the fruit-damaging species by Dacus tryont, a serious pest to citrus fruits
and bananas.

There are a number of different genera in this family that include fruit-
flies. The genus Dacus contains a great number of destructive species.

The gtnus Ceratitis, though limited in number of species, comprises
several very destructive species, and in the genus Trypeta two species are
known to attack sound fruit. The genus Carpomyia contains the Baluchiston
Melon Fly, which appears to come very close to the genus Ctratitis. The
.genus Anastreplia, founded by Schiner (" Reise der Novara Zool. Diptera,"
262, 1868) for the reception of two South American flies, Ancistreplia munda
and A. sfriata, now includes others that were originally desciibed in the genus
Dacus, the common fruit-pest of Brazil. " The Bahia Fruit Fly," AnastrepJia
Jratercula, was named Dacus fratercuhis by Wiedemann. Another common
fruit-pest in the same country, A. serpentine, was also first known as
Dacus serpentinus.

Bigot placed one of the commonest Indian fruit-flies in the genus Rivellia.
Tt was found infesting peaches, so he called it E. persicce. It is a Dacus,
and I have returned it to that genus in my notes.

Othf r species that have been described in the genus Dasyneura are now
placed in the genus Dacus. The generic name Dasyneura having been used by
Rondani in 1840 for a group of the Cecidomyia (gall gnats), Saunders' genus
created in 1841 will have to drop out of the Trypetidce. The "apple
maggot " of the United Slates, once known as Trypeta pomonella, has now
been placed in the genus Rhagoletes, and the allied species Ortulis cercisi,
attacking cherries, has come under the same group.

Genus — DACUS.

(Meigen System Beuchr. VI, 22, 1, 1830. Syn. Mitsca, Fabr. Rossi.

Oscims, Latr. Fabr., Bracliyopa, Meig.)

The members of this genus are all rather small reddish-brown flies, some-
times marked with black on the dorsal surface, and in most cases marked
with pale or bright yellow nude areas on the shoulder^, sides of t,he thorax,
or forming regular stripes or lines on the dorsal surface of the thorax. The
scutellum is also often yellow, prominent, usually smooth and shining.
The wings are hyaline, often striped or clouded with brown, or blackish.
They are active little flies ; the shape of the abdomen, narrow and con-
stricted at its junction with the thorax, giving them a wasp-like appearance.
When running about over the fruit or foliage, they often carry their wings
in a very characteristic manner, drooping down on the sides of the body.
They all have the same habit of puncturing ripening fruit, and depositing
their eggs beneath the skin of the fruit, the maggots feeding upon the
tissue.

These maggots are elongate cylindrical grubs, and pupate in the soil upon
which the damaged fruit falls.

79

The members of this genus have a very wide range through Africa, India,
the Malay Archipelago, Australia, and some of the Pacific Islands ; a few
have been described from South America ; and one, the olive fly, has a wide
range over the Mediterranean region of southern Europe.

The Queensland Fruit Fly.

(PI. I, fig. 1, and PL VI.)

Dacus tryoni, Froggatt.

(TcpJirites Iryoni, Agricultural Gazette of New South Wale?, June, 1897,
p. 410, pi. 8, fig. 1. Miscellaneous publications, No. 163, 1897,
Dep. Agriculture N.S.W. (reprint). Agr. Gaz. N. S. W., June, 1899.
Reprint Misc. Pub. 303, Dep. Agr.)

Though the maggot of this fruit-fly had been known for many years in
Queensland and New South Wales (it is stated as far back as 1852) as a
pest to fruit growers, it was not identified until Try on published his admir-
able observations on economic entomology (" Report on Insect and Fungus
Pests, No. 1, 1889,'' for the Queensland Government). He identified it as
the larva of a dipterous insect of the family Trypetidse and though he did
not give it a specific name, placed it in the genus Tephrilis, under which
genus I placed it when giving it specific rank under the name of Tephritis
tryoni , in recognition of Mr. Tryon's valuable investigations into its life
history and habits, contained in the above report. At this time in southern
Queensland it was recognised more as a peach and nectarine pest from a
commercial point of view, though it had been bred from nearly every kind of
fruit except grapes and passion-fruit.

Since Tryon wrote, this fruit-fly has become a very much more serious pest,
probably partly from the extension, particularly of banana orchards, into the
northern parts of his State, and also from the growth of the interstate
fruit export trade. During the last ten years the interstate export and
import fruit regulations and Vegetation Diseases Acts have come into force,
and much more attention has been called to this fruit pest from the natural
anxiety of the southern States to keep it out of their orchards and to protect
their fruit growers.

From observations extending over a number of years, it seems fairly evident
that the natural or permanent southern limit of the Queensland fiuit-ily is
about Gosford, in the rich brushes that extend within 50 miles of Sydney.
We often get this species much nearer Sydney, but it is an accidental or
isolated case of infestation that can be readily traced ; and unlike the
more cosmopolitan Mediterranean fruit-fly, I do not think that Dacus tryoni
will ever thrive and become a fruit-pest south of Sydney. In all the years
that bananas have been imported (for years without any restrictions), it has
had every chance of getting all over Tasmania, Victoria, and South Australia,
but it has never taken hold of any district south of Sydney.

A gnat number of general reports have been written and compiled by our
economic entomologists on this species, but no fresh conclusions have been
arrived at regarding the best means of checking its ravages. Though several
hymenopterous parasites have been bred from the pupse, they have no
effect upon the increase of the pest on account of their rarity, and can only
be regarded as interesting from an entomological point of view.

80

Description : Length, 3 lines ; expanse of wings, 5 to 6 lines. The perfect fly
has clear transparent wings, clouded very slightly, clouded along the costal
nervure, and a tine tran verse fuscous stripe crosses the- wing towards the
base ; the nervures reddish. The abdomen, constricted at the base, is broadly
rounded to the tip, furnished with a fine ovipositor in the female, while
that of the male is more elongated, so that the female is more wasp like in
form than the male.

In general coloration they are somewhat variable, but on careful exami-
nation the yellow markings will be found constant ; but this has led to some
confusion in determining the species, when they have been bred from
nncommon fruits or vegetables. Head : The eyes almost black ; face, with
rounded black spot on either side below the antennae ; tips of antennae fuscous,
and a few indistinct spots or marks on the forehead ; thorax, wi' ha broad
creamy often pale dorsal band, running down to thejscutellum, with a short,
well-defined narrow pale yellow stripe on either side. On the sides of the
thorax there is a small, rounded, creamy white spot in front, with a blotch
formed of two parts of the same colour in a line with the front of the
parallel side stripe; the scutellum, white to pale yellow, is prominent, some-
what convex on the upper surface, broadly angulated behind, with two stout
Bristles. The legs are pale yellow, tarsi darkest ; abdomen, blackish to
brown, with a broad transverse band of pale dull yellow across the basal half.
The bristles on the antennae are long, with fine scattered bristles on the head
and sides of the thorax, and the abdomen finely pubescent.

It is, in the first place, a typical orange fly, then a banana pest ; but there
are few fruits that it has not been bred from at some time or other. It is
closely allied to the Indian Mango Fly, Dacus ferrugineus, described by
Fabricius, and ranges from India and Ceylon to Java and Amboina.
Though commonly a mango pest, it attacks and destroys many fruits.

In the Journal of Agriculture, Victoria, May, 1907, French published an
article entitled " Fruit Flies," afterwards issued as Bulletin 26 of the
Department of Agriculture, Victoria. In this paper he describes a variety
of D. tryoni under a varietal name of Dacus cucumis, the maggots of which
were obtained in large quantities from cucumbers imported from Queensland.
I, have carefully compared specimens kindly given to me by Mr. French, and
others that we have bred from cucumbers that were sent from Coonamble,
New South Wales, and consider it may rank as a species. There are no
differences in the wings, but the whole insect is of a much lighter colour, and
has a well-defined short, broad, pale yellow blotch or stripe in the centre of
the lower half of the dorsal surface of the thorax, while the side stripes of
yellow on either side are shorter, broader, and more curved.

There is, apparently, another variety, if not a distinct species, that breeds
in tomatoes grown in Queensland.

Another variety, also found breeding in tomatoes from Queensland, has
two well-defined blackish parallel lines down the sides of the dorsal surface
•of the thorax, which run into each other behind the head, with the silvery
pubescence enclosed between them.

At the same time, I have typical specimens of the Queensland fruit-fly
without the central yellow blotch, also bred from tomatoes.

Probably other members of this genus will be found in the northern
portion of Australia, when carefully looked for, as the genus has a wide
range.

81

The Mango Fruit Fly.

(PI. II, fig. 8.)
Daciix ferrHfjinens, Fabricius.

(Ent. Sy^t. IV, :>42, 1-27: Fab. Syst. Antl.. 271 .", : Wiedemann
Aussereuropaische ZweifltogeHga Insecten, 1828-30, vol. II, p. 515 ;
Macquart, Dipteres Exotiques, nouveaux ou peu connus, 1838, Supp.,
3, 64, and 4, 2.)

holeschall described this species undor two different names; first as
B'lctrncera maculipennis, in the Nat mirk Tijdschr van Nederl, Indie, vol. X,
1*~>U, p. 36, and figured it on plate 1. In ihe same journal, two years later,
he described a variety under the name of Bactrocera conformis. Van der
Wulp notices this in the Annales do la Societe Entom. de Belgique, in 1884,
in a paper entitled " Quelques Diptires Exotiques."

In " Indian Museum Notes, " vol. Ill, 1(S96, in a contribution called " Miscel-
laneous Notes," E. C. Cotes figures and describes this fly as a mango pest in
India : and though he states that specimens sent to the British Museum had
been identified as Dacus ferrugineus, Fab., he calls it var. mangifera, Cotes,
under which name are specimens now in the Calcutta Museum.

Originally described from Java and Amboina, it probably has a wide range,
and is certainly one of the commonest species in India and Ceylon. If my
determination is right, it is in regards to coloration and size a very variable
species, running from black in the thorax, and even the body, to reddish-
brown. This is one of the two species that is attracted by the scent of
<3itronella oil, the other being Dacus diversus.

It is a general fruit pest, breeding from mangoes, oranges, and other fruits ;
but they were not obtained from any of the Cucurbitae, nor were they bred
from the infested peaches in the Government orchard at Pusa. This is a
-smaller i-eddish fly, which agrees with Bigot's description of Dacus persicce.

Dacus fprrugineus is a medium sized species, measuring from 7 to 5 mm. ;
it is of a general rusty red colour, with the dorsal surface of the thorax varying
from black to a uniform rusty red tint: sometimes the abdomen is marked
with almost black bands. It has the shoulders, blotches on the sides, and
two lateral stripes on the dorsal surface of the thorax of pale, but often bright
yellow ; and the scutellum is also of the same colour. The wings are hyaline,
with reddish nervures, and the only marking upon them are a reddish stripe
along the latter half of the costal nervure, a very faint mark of fuscous at
the extreme tip of the wing, and a. blotch along the anal cell. The legs
•of the female are blotched with brown ; those of the males lighter. The
abdomen has a narrow and then a much wider transverse band round the
basal half of the body, with a narrow dark parallel stripe down the centre
of the apical half, with either side darkly blotched ; the tip ferruginous.
In the darkest varieties the central bar does not show, as the whole of the
lower portion of the abdomen is dark reddish-brown to almost black.

There is a specimen in the Verrall Collection, determined by Bigot as this
species, from Java.

Maxwell-Lefroy ha.s figured this fly in his " Important Insects injurious txx
Indian Agriculture" (page 227, vol. I, No. 2, 1907)

82

The Peach Fruit Fly.

(PL IT, fig. 5.)
Dacus persicce, Bigot.

(Rivellia persicce, Bigot, Indian Museum Notes, vol. I, p. 192, 1889. E. C-

Cotes, I.e., p. 195.)

"The fly here described certainly belongs to the family Ortalidse, by the
neuration of the wings. It seems to rne identical with the genus Rivellia^
Desv., following the classification of Rondani (Bull, del Soc. Entom. Italia,
Firenze, 1869); and it ought to be included in the large genus Daeus o£
Fabricius (Macquart, Dipt, de Europe et exotique).

u The specimens examined (^ and _?Vwere damaged, and in such bad

condition that their description may not be quite exact. As this species-
appears to me to be new, I propose for it the name of Rivellia persicce.

" Male and female. Length, 7 mm., the ovipositor projecting.

" Antennae dull yellow, with the extremities blackish ; palpi pale yellow ;
head and face reddish ; angles of the sides blackish, with two light lines on
the inner margin of the eyes ; clypeus reddish, with two large, longitudinal
bands, somewhat indistinct, with a greyish-brown pubescence ; shoulder.-*, two
narrow lateral lines, pale yellow ; scutellum greyish-yellow. Abdomen
reddish, with a narrow dorsal line, black, indistinct anteriorly; o\ipo-itor
depressed, angular at the extremity, yellowish, the rest of a light yellow to
dark brown ; legs yellow ; the posterior tibia brownish at the bas^ and
extremities ; tarsi white ; wings hyaline, the longitudinal nervures clouded
with yellow at the base ; stigma pale yellow. The wing is marked with a
a small, blackish patch, situated at the extremity between the costal nervure
and the third longitudinal nervure (of Rondani)."

The above is a translation of Bigot's description of the fruit-fly wliic'i was
sent to him from Chota Nagpur, India, by E. C. Cotes, the Director of the
Calcutta Museum. They were bred from maggots that were very destructive
to peaches grown in that district, from which habit Bigot gav»- it the
specific name persiccv.

Mr. Irvine, who collected the specimens, sent some interesting notes. He
says : " To stop the injury or ameliorate the harm done, I intend trying the
effect of removing at least 6 inches of the soil from under the trees dur ng
the cold weather, and thoroughly baking the same, which must kill a1 1 there
is in the soil of insect life. I would further recommend the instant re > oval
of all pierced fruits which fall to the ground, and the burning of the -a e, or
else placing them in a trough of water for at least twenty-four hours.

" Whether the millions of larva? that have pupated in the soil during the
peach-crop season, when hundreds of decaying fruit fell to the ground, have
since taken wing, or remain to hibernate in the soil till next season's crop, is-
a problem to solve."

When working in conjunction with Mr. Hewlett I obtained ma. y speci-
mens of this species on the wing among the melon patches at Pusa, n ar the
Imperial Research Labora'ories ; and this was one of the two specie- that
was attracted, both there and at Bangalore, by the scent of the citronella.
oil. In the peach orchard attached to the station at Pusa nearly every each
in the orchard was infested and thousands of fine fruit were lying un er the
trees, full of maggots.

83

This is the small, reddish fruit-fly in which the nude areas on the shoulders
sides of thorax, and scutellum are so pale that they might be called white
with a narrow, pale stripe of the same colour on either side of the thorax,
above the base of the wings.

The Three-striped Fruit Fly.
Dacus diversuSj Coquillet.

(Proc. Ent, Soc. Washington, vol. VI, No. 3, pp. 139, 140, 1904.)

" Head and its appendages yellow, base of proboscis brownish ; face of the
male unmarked, that of the female with a transverse black fascia a short
distance above the oral border, front with a central brown spot, and a row
of three brown dots along each eye ; vertex with a narrow black fascia
produced forward in the middle, so as to include the lowest ocellus ; occiput
with a brown vitta on either side of the centre, the two connected at their
upper ends by a brown fascia; antennae slightly longer than the face; arista
bare. Body black, the following markings yellow : humeral callosities, a short
streak in centre of mesonotum, a vitta situated a short distance above each
lateral margin of the mesonotum, extending from the suture to the hind
margin ; a fascia extending from the front of each of these vittse to the
upper part of the sternopleura ; the prosternum largely, the scutellum, a large
spot on either side of the metanotum, and including the hypopleura, the hind
margins of the abdominal segments, a very narrow on the fourth, and the
base of the ovipositor ; mesonotum with a median pair of grey pruinose vittae,
which extend from the front end to a short distance beyond the suture ;
abdomen devoid of black bristles and of long black hairs; ovipositor
depressed, slightly longer than the fourth and fifth abdominal segments
taken together. Legs of male almost wholly yellow, those of the female
yellow, the apices of the femora and whole of the tibiae black, apices of tarsi
brownish. Wings hyaline, base of the marginal cell brownish, costa narrowly
bordered with brown from apex to auxiliary vein to a point midway between
apices of the third and fourth veins, scarcely widening in its apical portion,
anal cell filled with brown, which colour encroaches somewhat on the third
posterior cell. Length, 4 to 5 mm.

" Habitat, Colombo, Ceylon, and Bangalore, India."

He had a series of five male and three female flies, that were bred from
maggots infesting oranges.

This is one of the species that Mr. Hewlett and I collected at Pusa flying
about the melon patches, and again at Bangalore in several mango planta-
tions ; and though a few were attracted by the citronella oil, most of them
were caught on the wing.

It appears to be a very distinct species, differing from Dacus ferrugineuts
in being somewhat smaller in size, and has white or pale yellow line down
the centre of the thorax, and the darker and more regular coloration of the
abdomen. It differs from Dacus persicce in being larger, and with the black
thorax and dorsal stripe on the thorax. The three flies enumerated seem to
be the three common species of fruit-flies that infest mangoes, oranges, guavas,
and peaches, and have very similar habits, so that they may be checked and
destroyed in the same manner.

The Melon or Bitter Gourd Fruit Fly.

(PI. II, figs. 6 and 7.)
Dacus cucurbitce, Coquillet.

(Entomological News, May, 1899, pp. 129, 130.)

The specimens, from which this species was described, were bred from
cucumbers in Hawaii, where it is a common and very destructive pest to
watermelons, musk melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, and string beans ; but it
has never been bred from fruit. At the time it was described its native
home was unknown, but subsequently Mr. Muir, of the Sugar Planters'
Association laboratories, found that India was its original home ; and my
investigations, later on, showed that it was the common Bitter Gourd or
Melon Fly, widely distributed over India and Ceylon.

One of my first investigations in Hawaii was in connection with this pest,
and, accompanied by Mr. Van Dine, of the United States Experiment
Station, who has written a very concise bulletin, " The Melon Fly," published
in The Hawaaian Forestry and Agriculturist (April, 1906, vol. JII, p. 127),
I spent several days in the fields and among the melon-growers. Melons are
grown under irrigation in large quantities on the rich black soil of Makaha,
about 35 miles from Honolulu, where, at Holt's ranch, I obtained many
specimens. The work is carried out by Chinese and Japs on the share system,
or they rent the land from the owner. The ordinary watermelon, being
harder, is not so subject to infestation, after it has reached the size of a hen's
egg, as the cantaloupes (rock, melons) ; but as soon as the melon is set, the
cultivators place them in paper bags, and thus protect them from the flies,
leaving them on the soft-skinned cantaloupes until they are ripe. In conse-
quence of the great rise in price of all kinds of melons since the advent of
the fly, the growers, under the new methods, may make almost as much
money as they did before, but the consumer has often to pay 50 cents for
what he used to pay only 10 cents in the old days.

Where numerous the flies, probably accidentally, puncture the melon stems,
and the resulting maggots destroy the tissue, causing much of it to die.
Many of the small melons infested were found to be completely hollowed out,
and were just a mass of semi-dry pith and maggots, ready to work through
the skin and pupate in the ground beneath. Some we found nearly 2 inches
below the surface. We found hardly a fly at midday in the melon fields, but
on examining the weeds and turnip plants forming a border along the
irrigation channels, we found them in numbers resting among the green,
foliage.

At Molokai Island we found some of the growers covering their melon and
cucumber beds with cheese cloth, but though it kept the flies out, it also-
kept all the bees and small insects that, under ordinary conditions, fertilize
the flowers, so that very few melons ever set and matured.

In spite of the destruction caused by the fruit-flies, with the use of paper
bags, Mr. Holt and his Asiatic partners were shipping 800 melons per week
to Honolulu, where they brought from 30 to 50 cents a-piece, the picked
ones from 75 to 1 dollar each. He works on the halves system, finds the
land, quarters, and a mule to cultivate, the men doing all the field work,
while he attends to the shipping and sale of the produce.

85

Later on, in the vegetable gardens on the slopes of Mount Tantillus, we
found the fruit-fly maggots in many ripening tomatoes and string beans

There are no laws or regulations dealing with the destruction of damaged
fruit in Hawaii. No parasites have been bred from the many pupae and
larva1 under observation in the Entomological Branch of tho United States
Experimental Station.

Fly in India and Ceylon. — One of the first species of fruit-fly that
J found in India was Dacus cucurbits, and wherever we examined melon
gardens in Central or North-Western India, we noticed this fly hovering
about, and we bred it from maggot infested melons, cucumbers, bitter gourds,
and egg plants. One remarkable thing about this species was, that while
Mr. Howlett and I could attract thousands of the two smaller fruit-flies with
a handkerchief moistened with citronella oil, we never had a single specimen
of this fly come to the bait.

This species, though well known in India, and represented in most of the
museum collections, had not been named, or, at any rate, identified, until
Coquiliet named "A new Trypetid.from Hawaii."

In the northern part of Ceylon, at Jaffna, I found many damaged melons
containing fruit-fly maggots, and, later on, bred this species from the pupae:

Dacus cucurbitce is one of the larger species of the genus, and can be easily
recognised by the mottled wings, the brown tints forming a band along the
front margin, and two more or less regular transverse markings on the hind
portion.

Herewith is Coquillet's original description.

Dacus cucurbitce. — Head light yellow ; the occiput, except the sides and
upper margin, reddish-yellow, an ocellar black dot, front marked with a
brown spot in front of its centre, and with three pairs of orbital brown dots,
a black spot on each side of the face near the middle, and a brown spot on
the middle of each cheek ; antennae, palpi, and proboscis yellow, the latter
mottled with brown ; thorax, reddish-yellow, the humeri, a median vitta on the
posterior half of the mesonotum, another on each side, above the insertion of
the wings, uniting with an irregular band which extends upon the pleura to
the upper part of the sternopleura, also a large spot on each side of the
metanotum, encroaching upon the hypopleura, light yellow ; scutellum, except
iN i-xtreme base, light yellow, bearing two bristles ; abdomen light yellow on
first two segments, reddish-yellow on the others, the extreme base, a fascia
at the bases of the second and third segments, usually a lateral spot on the
fourtli and fifth, also a dorsal vitta on the last three segments, blackish or
brownish ; first segment of the ovipositor of the female slightly longer
than the fifth segment of the abdomen. Wings hyaline, the apex of the
subcostal cell, from a short distance in front of the apex of the auxiliary
vein, the marginal and subrnarginal cells, the median third of the first basal
cell, and a large spot in upper outer corner of the first posterior cell, brown,
this colour encroaching on the third posterior cell and bordering the sixth
vein almost to its apex : posterior cross vein bordered with brown, this colour
extending to the hind margin of the wing ; upper end of the small cross vein
is also bordered with brown. Halteres light yellow. Legs light yellow, the
broad apices of the femora and the last four joints of the tarsi reddish-yellow;
hind tibiae reddish-yellow or dark brown. Length, 6 to 8 mm. Type, No.
4,207 in the LTnited States National Museum.

86

The South Sea Guava Fly.
(PI. VII, figs, la, 2a, 3a)

Dacus psidii, Froggatt.

, N.S.W., 1899, p. 1

W.,

(TepJiritis psidii, Froggatt, Agricultural Gazette, N.S.W., 1899, p. 501,
PL ii, figs, la, '2a, 3a. Miscellaneous Publications, Dep. Agr. N.S.

No. 303.)

In the original description the numbers of the plate are transposed, but
on reference to the letterpress the mistake will be noticed. The larvae were
obtained from infested guavas condemned in a shipment of fruit from Noumea,
New Caledonia. Specimens were afterwards obtained from granadillas that
came in a similar condition from Fiji.

In general appearance, the maggots which were kept under observation
did not differ from those of D. tryoni, and they pupated in the soil in the
breeding-jars just beneath the surface. This is a medium-sized species,
measuring three lines in length and about five across the expanded wings.
The head light brown, with rich metallic purple eyes ; antennae brownish-
yellow, the last joint black, long and cylindrical, finely pubescent, the bristle
stout and long, with scattered bristles on the face and hind margin of the
head ; thorax black, with a few fine bristles near the base of the wings, a broad
parallel white stripe down the centre, with a pale yellow stripe down either
side, the humeri a stripe on the sides marked with creamy white ; the
scutellum large, angular, broadest in front, so broadly margined with creamy
white that the centre forms a black triangle, a pair of black bristles orna-
menting the hind margin ; legs brownish-yellow, clothed with fine hairs,
tarsal spines and claws black ; the wings hyaline, very slightly clouded at
the tips ; nervures blackish ; the transverse cubital nervure clouded on either
side with black, giving it a thickened appearance ; the apical portion of the
second costal, the base of the third costal, and the third basal cell clouded
with brown ; the abdomen black, elongate, narrow at base, pointed to
extremity ; the geriitalia ochreous ; ovipositor consisting of a stout horny
pointed process, enclosed in a pale yellow sheath of a granulated structure.

Habitat, New Caledonia and Fiji.

Dacus lonyicornis, Wiedemann.

(Aussereuropaische Zweiflugelige Insecten, vol. II, p. 524, 16.)

This species was described from Java, but I have a specimen obtained in
India, so that it probably has a wide range. There is a specimen in VerralFs
Collection under this name that was probably identified by Bigot.

This is one of the large typical forms of the species, with very long antennae,
a, rather stalked pyriform abdomen, broadly rounded at the extremity.
It is of a uniform ferruginous tint, with the dorsal surface and sides of the
apical half of the abdomen clothed with fine golden pubescence. The wings
are hyaline, with a broad well-defined stripe along the costal nervure.

Wiedemann says : " Reddish, constricted at the base of abdomen, costal
edge of wings brown. Length, 4 lines." Java.

87'

Dacus lounsburyii, Coquillet.
(PI. Ill, fig. 13.)

"Proceedings U.S. National Museum," vol. XXIV, No. 1,243, p. 27, 190L)

In a paper entitled " New Diptera from Southern Africa," D. W. Coquillet
described four new species of the genus Dacus from specimens brought from
Cape Colony by C. P. Lounsbury, the Government Entomologist, when he
visited Washington.

Dacus lounsluryii. — " Head yellow, occiput, except the upper and lateral
margins, reddish-brown, frontal vitta, except its lower end, reddish-brown,
an ocellar spot, one near centre of front and one on the lanule, blackish, a
row of four blackish dots along each orbit ; a broad reddish stripe in middle
of face, a black spot on either side near its middle, an oblique reddish line
near each orbit, and a large black spot below each eye ; antennae nearly twice
as long as the head, brownish-red, the extreme base yellow, the third joint
black ; palpi and proboscis brownish-red, apex of the latter largely yellow ;
body reddish-brown, indistinctly marked with blackish, mesonotum marked
behind the suture with three yellow vittie, a yellow fascia extends along
the suture, crosses the mesopleura and encroaches on the sternopleura ; a spot
on the hypoplenra, hind margins of thescutellum and of the second abdominal
segment literally yellow ; abdomen three times as long as wide; the third
segment in the male bearing a row of black bristles, extending from the
venter half way to the middle of the dorsum, situated a short distance in
front of the hind margin ; ^ings hyaline, a brownish band along the costa,
filling apex of subcostal cell beyond auxiliary vein, the whole of the marginal
and submarginal cells, apical three-fourths of the first posterior and upper
edge of the second posterior cell, faintest in basal portion of submarginal
cell and darkest in the posterior cells, that in the first posterior cell some-
times having a subhyaline median streak ; anal cell filled with yellow and
brown, its lobe and the vein extending beyond its apex bordered with
brown ; base of the first basal cell to forking of second and third veins
yellowish; legs yellowish-brown, first tarsal joint, except apex and broad
bases of hind femora, white ; halteres, whitish ; bases of the stems reddish-
brown : basal segment of ovipositor of female greatly flattened, shorter than
the preceding abdominal segment ; length 11 mm.

Described from three males and seven female specimens ; the type in the
United States National Museum (Catalogue No. 5,786).

Specimens taken at Cape Town and Wynberg, South Africa.

This is one of the largest species of the genus, and is allied to the Aus-
tralian species Dacus cequalig, described by Coquillet, in the Proceedings of
the Linnsean Society of New South Wales, and Dacus longicornis, Wied.,
from India and Java.

All of these have long antennae, are of a general ferruginous tint with few
yellow marking-*, the hyaline wings are clouded along the costal nervure, and
the large body is pyriform or turbinate with the extremity broadly
rounded.

Dacus brevis, Coquillet.

("Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum," vol. XXIV, No. 1,243, p. 28,

1901.)

Head yellow, frontal vittse sometimes tinged in places with reddish-
yellow, the occiput, except along the eyes, yellowish-brown, a dark brown
spot above the centre of front, a small black spot on the ocelli, three along

89

t

each orbit, one on the frontal lanule and one on either side of centre of face,
a brown spot below each eye ; antennae shorter than the head, yellowish-
brown, becoming dark brown at the apex, arista black, the base yellowish,
proboscis and palpi brownish-yellow ; body reddish-brown, mesonotum and!
abdomen with a mediodorsal black line, and sometimes with blackish mark-
ings ; humeri, a stripe along the thoracic suture crossing the mesopleura and
encroaching on the sternopleura, a rounded spot on the hypopleura, and the
scutellum, except its extreme base, yellow ; abdomen one and a half times as
long as wide, the third segment in the male bearing a row of black bristles
extending from the venter nearly half way to the middle of the dorsum ;
wings hyaline, the subcostal and marginal cells, base and usually the very
narrow edge of the submarginal cell beyond apex of the marginal about half
way to tip of third vein, where it expands and fills the entire apical portion
of this cell and encroaches on the first posterior cell, brown, a brown cloud
on distal part of anal cell ; apex of fourth vein, not or very slightly
approaching toward the third vein ; legs yellow, apices and middle and hind
femor^ and bases of middle tibiae yellowish-brown, hind tibiae largely, and
last four joints of all the tarsi reddish-brown ; tibite and apices of femora
sometimes yellowish-red ; halteres yellow ; ovipositor of female almost
cylindrical, the basal segment shorter than the last abdominal segment.
Length, 5-5 to 6 '5 mm. Described from two male and four female specimens.
Type, U.S. National Museum, Washington (No. 5,787). Bathurst, Cape
Colony, South Africa.
,

Dacus immaculatus, Coquillet.

(Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, Vol. XXIV, No. 1,243, p. 29,

1901.)

" Differs from brevis as follows : — The spot above centre of front scarcely
darker than the reddish-yellow frontal vitta, no black spots on the face, bases
of palpi pale yellow, yellow spot on each hypopleura nearly twice as long as
wide, brown in marginal cell, not connected with that in apex of the sub-
marginal, the latter extending one-third of distance from apex of third vein
to apex of second, ovipositor of female greatly flattened, legs yellow. Length,
5 to 6-5 mm. Four males and four females." Collected at East London,
Cape Colony, Africa. Type in U.S. National Museum, No. 5,789.

NOTE. — I have received a co-type of this handsome little fruit-fly from
Mr. Lounsbury, and add the following : — The eyes dark, the yellow markings
on the thorax very bright coloured, scutellum elongate slightly arcuate in
front ; the dorsal black stripe down the centre of the thorax broadest behind,
nearly wedge shaped, apex of thorax below scutellum black ; abdomen dark
reddish-brown, with the centre crossed with a black band or bar that swells
<lown on either side, forming an irregular oval black patch merging into the
bar.

Dacus sigmoides, Coquillet.

(Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, Vol. XXIV, No. 1,243, p. 29,

190f>.)

" Differs from the above description of brevis only as follows : — The dark
brown spot above centre of front is connected with the upper two spots in
each of the orbital rows, no brown spot below each eye, no mediodorsal black
line on the abdomen, apical section of fourth vein strongly bisinuous, the
-apex strongly approaching towards the third vein, legs yellow, the apices of

89

the femora, bases of the tibia* and last four joints of the tarsi slightly darker,
moiv brownish-yellow, knob of hulteres yellowish-brown, ovipositor greatly
flattened, the basal segment one and one fourth times as long as the last
abdominal segment. Length, 7 mm." Described from one female specimen.
Found in the Island of Mauritius, Africa. Type, U.S. National Museum,
No. r>,788.

The Sudan Fruit Fly.
Dacus, sp.

(Theobald — Second Report of the Wellcome Research Laboratories,
Gordon Memorial College, Khartoum, 1906.)

On page 93 Theobald, in his " Report on Economic Entomology," figures
and gives a general description of a fruit-fly belonging to this genus that is
common in th<- Sudan, where it is a serious trouble to the melon growers of
that part of Africa. He says : " This species comes very near Froggatt's
species (Dacus tryoni}, the Queensland maggot-fly, but is quite distinct."

His description is as follows: — "The Sudan melon fly is somewhat wasp-
like in general appearance. The head is yellowish between the eyes, which
are large and dark, there is a dark spot on the occiput and two oval black
spots on the face below the antennae, which are yellow with *dark apex ; the
arista is simple. The thorax is slaty-grey, with minute dark brown specks, and
fine, pale, backwardly-directed short hairs, a bright nude yellow area at each
shoulder, a yellow nude plate on each side in front of the base of each wing,
which passes a narrow, wedge-shaped area into the median transverse
suture, the lower area of the spot is formed on the pleura?, and there is a
smaller one below and another on the pleurae just behind the wings; the
scutellurn is yellow and nude, and the metanotum deep slaty-grey.

" The abdomen is much contracted basally and acute apically, the basal
segment is brown, the second has a yellow apical border, the remainder dark
brown.

" The legs are dull, pale yellowish, somewhat transparent basally ; the feet
dark brown, the apex of femora and base of the tibia? reddish-brown.

"The transparent wings are brown along the costa, and there is a dark
brown vein below.

" The chaetotactic characters are very marked, there being four black
bristles on the head, four on the front of the thorax, and two on each side of
the median suture, one behind the root of the wings, and two long ones on
the scutellum. The whole abdomen has fine, pale, backwardly-projecting
bristle-like hairs. Length, 10 5 mm."

I am indebted to Mr. Harold H. King, Economic Entomologist to the
Wellcome Research Laboratories, for specimens of this very interesting
fruit-fly.

The Olive Fly.

(PI. I, fig. 2.)
Dacus olew, Rossi.

(Fauna Etrusca, 11, 317, 153S, 1780.)

There is no species of the genus that causes more damage than the olive-
fly of the Mediterranean region. The adult fly punctures the ripening olive
and deposits its eggs beneath the skin. The maggots feeding upon the tissue

90

cause the olives to wither and drop off, and for many years have thus caused
an immense reduction in the output of olive oil, particularly in Italy and
Sicily. Last year it was estimated to have destroyed 10 per cent, of the
total olive crop of Italy. Not only have the producers lost money, but the
Government have had to reduce the taxes in the badly-infested districts.
The pest has been gradually increasing every year, the returns of 1879-83,
when the yield was 3,390,000 hectolitres of oil, have been reduced to
2,005,000 in 1895-99. As a large reward has been offered by the Govern-
ment for any effective remedy or cure for this pest, all the entomologists have
been studying the olive-fly, and carrying out experiments towards its eradi-
cation. When it is understood that the olive trees are grown on all kinds of
rugged stony hillsides, and the olives are so small that it. is a very different
thing to clean up an olive plantation than an orange orchard, the difficulties
of the situation can be understood.

Professor F. Silvestri, of Naples, advocates parasites, but no parasite of
any commercial value has been discovered, though several have been bred
from the pupae of the olive-fly.

Dr. A. Berlese, of Florence, has carried out many experiments in trying
to attract the flies with sweetened poisoned mixtures, with a certain amount
of success. 9

The olive-fly is one of the smallest species, not more than 2J lines in length.
The wings hyaline, with dark nervures, very slightly clouded with yellow at
the extremity of the first parallel vein, a small black spot at the extreme tip,
and faint clouding of brown on the submarginal cell. The head dull yellow,
eyes black, with a black spot below the base of the antennae, the latter blackish
at the extremities, a few black bristles on the summit. The thorax black,
with the dorsal surface clothed with fine silvery pubescence, so that the black
forms three narrow parallel black lines on the thorax ; legs, nude patches on
the sides of the shoulders, and the area above and below the base of the
wings yellow, inner portion of the scutellurn black, hind portion yellow.
The abdomen black, covered with a scattered grey pubescence, the basal
segments marked with pale transverse bands, and an irregular parallel bar or
blotch of reddish-brown occupying the centre of the apical segments, the
apical segment reddish-yellow, with the sheath of the ovipositor black, with
the ovipositor reddish.

As might be supposed, there has been a great deal written about this
destructive fly. In " Observations upon recent literature relating to the
Olive Pest," Professor Guercio gives a list of thirteen papers published in
Italy between the years 1877 and 1907, dealing with the olive fly generally,
and there are many other special reports. Dr. Navarro, in his " Memoir
relative to the Diseases of the Olive" (published in Madrid, 1898, for the
Ministerio de Fomento), gives a very good account of the olive-fly in Spain,
which is illustrated with a plate showing how it damages the olive.

As far back as 1822 Briganti (Atti del Real Institute di Napoli) gave an
account of this pest, and four years later (1826), gave a detailed description
of its metamorphoses and life history.

Westwood (" Modern Classification of Insects," 1840) says : " It is known
to the natives of Provence under the name of Chiron. It is of a whitish
colour ; its mouth is furnished with two hooks ; it at first feeds on the young
leaves, but afterwards penetrates into the fruit." Of course, the state-
ment that the maggot first feeds upon the young leaves of the olive tree is
incorrect.

91

Broun's Fruit Fly.

(PI. I, fig. 3.)
Dacus (Tephrites) xanthodes, Broun.

(Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, XXXVII, p. 327, 1904.)

This name was given to a species, bred by Captain Broun in New-
Zealand, from larvae obtained infesting pine-apples, granadillas, guavas, and
mammee apples brought from Suva and Rarotonga, Fiji.

He says : " It differs from Trypeta psidii in being longer, differently
coloured and sculptured, and having no dusky areas on the wings. From
Dacus tryoni it is distinguished by a greater length of body and expanse of
wing, uniform coloration, without fuscous or yellow marks, dissimilar

thing and sculpture, less broadly oviform or wasp-like hind body and
stout antennal setae. In D. tryoni the flanks of the sternum are fuscous."

Before describing this insect, Captain Broun sent me several specimens, to
see whether I could identify it for him ; but we have never bred this species
from imported fruit, and it has never been recorded from Australia.

Briefly, it may be thus described : Length of body, 4J lines ; expanse of
wings, 7i lines ; eyes dark, face unspotted, with very few black bristles on
the head ; general colour, pale ochreous yellow, with the tarsi brownish, and
the abdomen somewhat darker than the thorax. A faint yellow dorsal
stripe on thorax, running through the centre of the scutellum, with a pale
yellowish-white stripe margining each side and marking the sides of the
scutellum, which is very prominent and arcuata behind ; only a few black
bristles on either side of the thorax. The wings are hyaline, with only the
costal nervure and the next parallel vein slightly ochreous ; abdomen of
female elongated, and truncate at apex.

The Large Australian Fruit Fly.
(PI. Ill, fig. 11.)

Dacus cequalis, Coquillet.
(Proceedings of the Linneau Society, N.S.W., 1908.)

This is one of our largest fruit-flies, and is remarkable for the very broad,
dark ferruginous stripe along the front margin of the wing, the long antennae,
and very wasp-shaped body. Several specimens were obtained by Mr. A. T.
Hunter in the maggot state in oranges growing near Gosford, New South
Wales. These maggots were bred out in the Entomological Laboratory, and
found to be a very different species to the common Queensland fruit-fly.
When in Washington last year, I submitted specimens to Mr. Coquillet for
determination. He has since sent me a technical description for publication
under the above name. This description has been published in the Proceedings
of the Linnean Society of New South Wales for this year, (1908).

The type will, therefore, be in the National Museum at Washington, U.S.A. 5
a second specimen I presented to the Entomological Collections of the Imperial
Research Laboratories at Pusa, India ; and another co-type is in the depart-
mental collections in Sydney. It comes close to Dacus lounsburyi, Coq., from
South Africa, and Dacus longicornis, Wied., from India and Java.

92

Dacus cequalis, Coquillet. — "Near lonyicornis, Wiedemann, from Java,
but differing from the description in having the occiput chiefly reddish-
brown instead of yellowish, the pleura has two yellow streaks instead
of black ones, the anal cell is brown, &c. The evenness of the
costal brown area of the wings, which is bounded by the costa and
fourth vein, will serve to distinguish the present species from most of
others. Reddish-brown, front mottled with yellow, face yellow, an elongated
black mark on each side ; cheeks margin of occiput, humeri, a streak extending
along the mesothoracic suture each side and crossing the mesopleura, a large
spot on the hypopleura, the scutellum, except the base, halteres, sides and
hind margin of the second segment of the abdomen, narrow hind margin of
the fifth segment, also the tarsi, pale yellow ; femora largely blackish-brown.
Antennse projecting about half the length of the third joint below the oral
margin. Abdomen broadly clavate slightly longer than the ovipositor of the
female. Wings greyish hyaline, the front margin from the costa to the fourth
vein wholly dark brown, anal cell brown, the constricted outer portion and the
vein beyond it broadly bordered with brown." Length (excluding the ovipo-
sitor), 8 to 9 mm.

Dacus frenchi., n.sp.

(PI. I, fig- 4.)

This species was figured in a coloured plate in an article on Fruit
Flies, written by Mr. C.- French, Government Entomologist in Victoria,
in their Journal of Agriculture, May, 1907, which was issued afterwards
as Bulletin No. 26, Department of Agriculture, Victoria. In this paper
there is no attempt to describe or name this handsome fly, French simply calls
attention to it, having been bred from oranges coming into Victoria from New
Caledonia. In the plate the coloration of the wings is accurate, but the
pattern upon the thorax is very misleading, as it shows a transverse band of
four yellow marks occupying the centre of the dorsal surface, whereas there
is only a light broad bar in the centre forming a silvery-brown dorsal stripe.

This is a large species, measuring 10 mm., with a broad rounded body and the
large hyaline wings, with a broad costal stripe of light reddish-brown running
right round the tip so that it forms a terminal fourth oblique band on the
wing, at the basal half is a double band forming an irregular triangle with a
clear centre, and other oblique bands (the first broadest) between it and the
stripe, running round the extremity, so that there are four oblique transverse
bands crossing the wing in a downward direction.

Head : proboscis fuscous, with a large black spot on either side below the base
of the antennae ; eyes reddish-brown, with dark prominent reddish blotch in
centre of face with a row of stout bristles along the hind margin of the head.
Thorax dull yellowish-brown, with the nude areas on the shoulders, the sides
and the scutellum very pale yellow, broadest in front, slightly truncate behind ;
the dorsal surface of the thorax clouded with black in an indistinct pattern
forming two slight parallel dark bars, the centre pale, and the whole clothed
with silvery pubescence. Legs yellow, with the tarsi darkest, clothed with
fine hairs, spines black. Abdomen finely pubescent, broadly rounded, with the
ovipositor and sheath very much produced ; general colour pale ochreous yellow,
with the base, a short band on the second segment, and a narrow well-defined
narrow parallel black band crossing through the centre of third, fourth, and
fifth segments, and a confluent blotch occupying the sides of the third and
fourth segments.

Habitat — New Caledonia. One female specimen.

93

Dacus ornatissimuft, n. sp.
(PL IV, fig. 13 and U.)

General light chestnut brown to ochreous ; wings hyaline, with a fine, pale
ferruginous stripe along the costal nervure, except the basal cells, which are
unclouded, a transverse stripe down the inner edge of the wing ; length,
6 mm. ; eyes almost black ; antennae moderately long, touched with fuscous
at the tip, a round black spot on either side of the face below the antennae, and
four small spots above, and a few short bristles on the vertex ; thorax without
yellow markings, but the dorsal surface is occupied with a well-defined black
pattern formed of two short parallel bars in line with the inner margins of
the eyes, merging into an irregular transverse band through the mesonotum,
which is continued in a broken band round the sides ; a black blotch on the
ventral surface below and between the forelegs, with another just behind
the base of the wings ; the whole of the dorsal surface of the thorax black,
behind which is the broadly rounded chestnut-coloured scutellum, from the
hind margin of which stand out two stout bristles ; below the scutellum,
above the base of the abdomen, are two well-defined black blotches ; legs
yellow, the tarsi slightly clouded ; abdomen ochreous, with indistinct narrow
transverse lines of darker colour, but no defined bands.

Habitat — New Caledonia. — Bred from mandarins in Sydney.

Dacus curvipennis, n. sp.
(PL IV, fig. 15 and 16.)

This is a handsome, dark yellow and black fruit-fly, of medium size, with
hyaline wings with the costal margin clouded forming a regular narrow band
extending round the tip of the wing, a small V-shaped blotch extends down-
ward from the costal stripe clouding either side of the transverse cross
nervure between the first posterior and basal cell, with the usual stripe down
the inner side of the wing. Length, 6 mm. Head yellow, eyes purplish-
black, antenna; fuscous at the tips, bristles blacV, without black spots on the
face ; thorax, with the whole of the dorsal surface covered with a dark
shield-shaped black patch, with the centre covered with an elongate double
bar of silvery white ; the shoulders, sides of the body, and scutellum bright
yellow, a narrow band or short bar of the same colour on the sides of the
thorax: the scutellum somewhat elongated when viewed from behind, more
convex when viewed from above, with two bristles at the hind margin ; a
few scattered bristles on the hind margin of the head and the sides of the
thorax; lfi:s yellow, thighs of hind le^s and tarsi darker; abdomen
elongate, with the base and two narrow transverse black bands below, the
second broadest on the sides : *hcath and ovipositor elongated.

Habitat — Fiji. Bred in Sydney from larvae taken from bananas in ship-
ments of fruit from Suva. Several specimens of both sexes. Type in
Agricultural Department's collection, New South

Dacus basilis. Walker.

of Diptera, British Museum, Part iii, 1*49, p. 1072.)
"Body bluish Driven, head tawny, black beneath and on the crown ; a white

stripe alon-,' eu-h eye: f;r?e white, its sides without bristles; epistoma
prominent: eyes pitchy: fore i avts flat, the facets much larger than those
elsewhere : sucker black, clothed with tawny hairs : palpi tawny, rather large,

94

beset with black bristles ; feelers ferruginous, full as long as the face, third
joint linear, slender, pitchy towards the tip, more than four times the length of
the second ; bristles slender, black, bare, tawny towards the base, much longer
than the third joint ; chest covered with whitish bloom ; abdomen linear
tawny towards the base beneath, much longer and narrower than the chest ;
legs ferruginous, clothed with very short black hairs ; feet pitchy towards
the tips : claws black ; foot cushions tawny ; wings slightly grey, brown along
the fore border from near one-third of the length to the tip ; middle and
lower cross veins clouded with brown, which has the -darkest hue on the
former ; wing ribs ferruginous, veins pitchy, ferruginous towards the base,
longitudinal veins nearly straight ; middle cross vein very oblique, lower cross
vein nearly upright, parted by little less than its length from the middle cross
vein by much more than its length from the tip of the wing, and by little
more than one-fourth of its length from the hind border ; poisers^ pale
tawny ; length of body, 2f lines; of the wings, 5 lines."

Habitat — Port Essington, North Australia (Gould's Collection).

Dacus longistylus, Wiedernann.
(Auss. Zweifl., Vol. ii, p. 522, Plate X, fig. 1, 1828-30.)

Wiedemann says : " General colour dull reddish, with the thorax spotted,
scutellum very pale yellow. Abdomen yellow, banded ; wings, marked at
the apex with dusky brown.''

Length, 3J lines. Habitat — Egypt.

There are a number of specimens determined by Loew in the K. K. Hof-
museum at Vienna under this name that were collected in Cairo, Egypt,
1858. In the Royal Museum of Hungary, at Budapest, there are other
specimens labelled Assouan, Egypt. Though this is a common species in
Egypt, I did not find any specimens in the departmental collections when
going through them with Mr. Willcocks. The species from the Soudan,
described by Theobald, is closely allied, and may be identical with this
species.

I made the following rough notes on this species in the Vienna Museum :
" Rather bright reddish-brown, with the nude patches on the shoulders, the
angular nude patches on the sides of the mesonotum in front of the wings,
and the scutellum bright yellow. The abdomen reddish-brown with three
transverse yellow bands. Wings hyaline, with dusky band along the costal
cells."

Habitat — Egypt.

Dacus maculiger, Doleschall.

(Natuurk. Tidjschr van Nederl, Indie, Vol. XVII, 122, 79 [Bactrocera

maculiger].)

This is a very distinct species, originally described from Amboina. There
are four specimens labelled "Collected Thorey, Cape York, 1868," in the
K. K. Naturhistor Hofrauseum at Vienna, but Dr. Handlirsch informed me
that the locality might not be exact, as Thorey was a dealer, and the speci-
mens had probably been bought from him. They appear to be very close to
the typical specimen, and are labelled by Loew (who determined many of the
diptera in this museum) Dazyneura zonala, Saund., or maculiger, Dol.

Head and thorax yellow, dorsal surface of the thorax curiously patterned
in slate-grey, forming a large patch in the centre truncate behind the he ad,

93

forking into a bar on eifcher side, vdth the hind portion produced into two
bars running to the sides behind. Abdomen yellow, with a narrow brown
band at the base, below which, across the middle, a broader band encircles it
with a well-defined parallel band running down the centre of the apical
segments to the anal extremity. Legs yellow, mottled with brown. The
wings hyaline, with the exception of the clouded margin at the tip, and an
oblique stripe in a line with the body.

In the specimens said to come from Cape York the colours are darker, but
th^ yellow markings on the front and sides of thorax and scutellum are
brighter yellow.

Habitat — Amboina.

Dacus puiictalifrons, Karsch.
(Entomologische Nachrichten, Vol. XIII, p. 8, 1887.)

" General colour reddish-brown to dull brown, clothed with short grey
pubescence. The face yellow, punctate in front, marked on each side with
three large black spots ornamenting the antennae below on each Fide ;
antennae elongate ; legs reddish-brown ; thorax on each side striated, shoulders
shining pale yellow ; scutellum pale yellow ; abdomen ovate, the dorsal
surface of the hind margin of the second segment yellow, the remaining
segments yellow in the centre with the anal segment short and brown ; wings
hyaline, costa banded to the last nervure brownish, transverse nervure small,
apparently brown on the edge. Length, 8 mm."

Habitat — Pangi Andongo.

Dacus caudatus, Fabricius.

(Syst. Antl. 276, 16, 1805; Wiedemann, Auss. Zweifl., 11, 518, 8, 1828-30;
Walker, List Diptera, British Museum, IV, 1073, 1848-55.)

This species is described from Java. There is a specimen in Mr. Verrall's
collection under this name.

It is a rather small species, of a general light yellow colour, with indistinct
dark yellow spots and marks on the thorax, the scutellum prominent ;
abdomen yellow, crossed with two narrow transverse black bands above, with
a tine line of the same colour forming a dorsal stripe from the base to the
tip of the abdomen with an irregular blotch on either side. The hyaline
wings with a dark costal stripe, with two irregular spots below crossing the
wing.

Wiedemann says : '* General colour yellow, thorax mottled with yellow and
black, abdomen marked with black stripes, and a band ; wings and costa
•with an oblique short stripe and bands of brown. Length : Male, 5J lines;
female, 4 lines. Habitat — Java."

Fabricius : D. caudatus yellow ; thorax greyish, with a yellow spot ; wings
hyaline, with the curved bases black."

As large as D. sfylafi ; head yellow ; front of face spotted with black ;
thorax greyish ; nude patches on shoulders, lateral lines, and hind margin
of the scutellum yellow ; abdomen oval, yellow, with a stripe of black in
the centre ; ovipositor elongated ; wings white hyaline ; costa clouded, base
with clear markings, and, moreover, curved to the black base.

96

Dacus fascipennis, Wiedemann.

(Zoologisches Magazin, Vol. Ill, 28, 42, 1817-23; Auss. Zweifl,, Vol. II,
519, 9, 1828-30 : Van de Wulp, Tijdsehr v., Entom. XXIII, 161, 42,
pi. ll,f. 4, 1880; Bactrocera fasciatipennis, Doleschall, Natuurk Tijdschr,
van Nederl. Indie, X, 1856, 412, 56, pi. 3, f. 1. Java and Sumatra).

There is a specimen in the Royal Museum of Hungary, said to have been
determined by Wiedemann from Astrolobe Bay, New Guinea. Wiedemann
says : " Fuscous marked with yellow, costal portion of the wings dusky with
three honeycomb-like blotches at the end." Length: Male, 3 J lines. Habitat — •
Java.

Dacus emittens, Walker.

(Pro. Linnean Society, Vol. IV, 1860, 152-184; Osten-Saken, Annali del
Museo Genova, XVI, 1881, 460.)

A very large species, dark brown to ochreous, with the hyaline wings
clouded with a fuscous blotch towards the apical half, and stained along the
costal nervure with a similar tint. The head yellow ; sides of the thorax
darkest ; scutellum stained, probably yellow, with two stout bristles on the
hind margin. The abdomen yellow, with a very distinct pattern, the base
lightly marked with black, an elongated spot or short bar in the centre of
the basal half, with a narrow black line crossing the centre of the back, with
a parallel one meeting it, and on the divisions on either side two black spots,
the lower one smallest.

Several specimens in Mr. Verrall's collection, labelled Celebes, by Bigot.

Dacus frauenfeldi, Schiner.
(Reise liTovara Zoology Diptera, 1868, p. 262.)

" Dorsal surface of thorax bJackish-brown, with three broad, grey, longi-
tudinal stripes, formed or continued from the fine, glittering, white pubescence,
the outer ones close to the edge of the dorsal surface ; the sides at base of
the wing-bosses on the shoulders, and scutellum reddish-yellow, the latter
with a broadened middle, black at the base ; apex of the thorax shining
black, broadest on the sides. Abdomen with a transverse yellow band inter-
rupted in the middle at the margin of the second segment with two yellowish
black stripes, sometimes white, run down to the anal segment, the latter
yellow with black line behind, moderately short ; sheath of ovipositor
reddish-yellow ; the under surface of the abdomen completely yellow. Head,
orange, with the bristles black ; antennae with a black spot on the sides
below the base ; antennte bright orange, broad, the last joint truncate at the
tip ; the bristle bare. Legs pale yellow, blackish at base, thighs clouded
with reddish-brown, the tibise, legs, and tarsi reddish-brown. Wings hyaline,
with two arched bands ; the upper, beginning at the base, follows the cubital
vein up to the little cross vein, then goes over this and the hinder cross vein
to the edge of the wing, the lower one covering the anal vein. The little
cross vein is very oblique ; the hinder one, too, is oblique, placed outwards,
and both coming close together. Anal cell suddenly narrowed, and long
drawn out underneath the 4th.

" One male and two female specimens. Habitat, Stuart Island."
"The clouding of the base of the thighs is often very variable in the
brightly-coloured male, the stripes on the abdomen broader than in the
female. I have carefully compared all Walker's species of Dacus, and found
none that could be identical with my species. It seems to me, moreover, that
the most of these species (Walker's) may not belong to the genus Dacus."

97

Dacus africanus, Adams.

(The Kansas University Science Bulletin, Vol. Ill, No. 6, October, 1905,

pp. H9-208.)

This is a species of fruit fly described in the above publication by C. F.
Adams, in a paper entitled " Dipt era Africana, 1." The specimens were
collected by Mr. F. L. Snow, near Salisbury, Rhodesia, South Africa.

- Male : close to D. brevis, Coq., and D. sigmoides, Coq., from Cape Colony.
Head yellow ; front reddish-yellow in the middle, greyish pollinose along the
orbits, ocellar dot, frontal lunule, three spots on orbits, and a spot in the
centre of front, black ; the three spots on orbits each bears a black, bristly
hair ; a vertical and post-vertical bristle present ; face straight, sloping on
the sides ; cheeks yellow, and furnished with a black spot below eyes ; occiput
yellow and reddish-yellow variegated ; antennte about as long as head, yellow,
tip of third joint and arista largely blackish. Thorax opaque reddish, finely
scrobiculate, sparse pile whitish ; humeri, a stripe beginning on upper margin
of stern opleunv, traversing the mesoplenrse and along transverse suture to
near middle of mesonotum, a spot on metaplura?, the scutellum, except the
extreme base, and halteres, yellow ; two small spots just in front of transverse
suture, two large ones behind it, a stripe just in front of the yellow of the
mesopleurse, the sternopleurse largely, two spots on metanotum and meta-
pleura largely blackish ; three small black bristles between humeri on anterior
margin of thorax, one on side just behind humeri, one at base of transverse
suture, one postalar, one transalar, an apical pair of scutellar bristles, and one
mesopleural bristle present. Abdomen reddish, finely scrobiculate, and with
whitish sparse pile ; third segment laterally along posterior margin, with a
short row of black bristles; venter yellowish. Legs light yellow; coxae
blackish at base ; femora on apical fourth, tibia? wholly, the tarsi apically,
reddish-yellow. Wings hyaline ; a fuscous stripe along first vein, from base
to apex, thence along costa to tip of third vein, and another one along lobe of
anal cell to wing margin ; auxiliary cell rudimentary ; tips of third and fourth
veins nearly straight ; small cross- vein inclined forward. — Length, 7 mm."

One specimen collected in June.

List of Walker's species.

These species of the genus Dacus were described by him, from specimens
collected by A. K. \Valbu-c in the Malay Archipelago, in a series of papers
entitled "Catalogue of Dipterous Insects/' tfcc., eleven in number, published
in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society between the years 1857 and
1865. These descriptions are very brief, and as the types are not in existence,
or, at any rate, their whereabouts unknown, it is very difficult to determine
any of his species. The descriptions can be seen in the Pro. Linn. Society of
the years mentioned.

1. Dacus absolotus. VoJ. VI, 1862, p. 22. Ceram.

'2. „ addens. Vol. IV, 1860. p. 149. Macassar.

3. ;, areolatus. Vol. V, 1861, p. 295. Batjan.

4. „ biarcnatus. Vol. VIII, 1865, p. 122. New Guinea.

5. „ bilineatis. Vol. IV, 1860, p. 150. Macassar.

6. „ concisus. Vol. VII, 1864, p. 227. Waigoe.

7. „ contrahens. Vol. IV, 1860, p. 151. Macassar.

8. „ curvi/er. Vol. VII, 1864, p. 229. Waigoe.

9. „ co-nformis. Vol. I, 1857, p. 34. Singapore, Celebes.
10. „ detrudcns. Vol. VIII, 1865, p. 135. Salawatti.

§395£7 D

93

11. Dacus devius. Vol. V, 1861, p. 250. Batjau.

12. „ diffusus. Vol. IV, 1860, p. 153. Macassar.

13. „ divergens. Vol. V, 1861, p. 149. Celebes.

14. „ disceipennis. Vol. V, 1861, p. 294 Batjan.

15. „ emittens. Vol. IV, 1860, p. 152. Celebes.

16. „ exigens. Vol. IV, 1860, p. 151. Macassar.

17. ., expertus. Vol. VI, 1862, p. 14. GiloK

18. „ cxpandens. Vol. Ill, 1859, p. 114. Aroe.

19. „ figuratus. Vol. I, 1857, p. 133. Borneo.

20. „ fulvitarsis. Vol. IV, 1860, p. 153. Macassar.

21. „ furcifer. Vol. VI, 1862, p. 14. Gilolo and Ternate.

22. „ helemyzoides. Vol. VII, 1864, p. 220. Mysol.

23. „ imitans. Vol. IV, 1860, p. 152. Ce'ebes.

24. „ inaptus. Vol. IV, 1860, p. 151. Macassar.

25. „ inscriptis. Vol. V, 1861, p. 162. Araboina.
56. „ instablis. Vol. V, 1861, p. 250. New Guinea.

27. „ latifacia. Vol. Ill, 1859, p. 114. Aroe.

28. „ lahralis. Vol. VIII, 1865, p. 123. Waigoe, New Guinea.

29. „ lituratus. Vol. V, 1861, p. 251. Waigoe, New Guinea.

30. „ Jaliventris. Vol. Ill, 1859, p. 115. Aroe.

31. „ longivitta. Vol. Ill, 1859, \\ 115. Amboina, A roe.

32. „ mutilloides. Vol. Ill, 1859, p. 115. Aroe, New Guinea.

33. „ nigrilinea. Vol. V, 1861, p. 251. New Guinea.

34. „ perplexus. Vol. VI, 1863, p. 14. Gilolo.

35. „ pompilioides. Vol. Ill, 1859, p. 116. Aroe.

36. „ pectoralis. Vol. 111,1859, p. 114. Aroe, Batjan, Waigoe.

37. „ replo.tus. Vol. V, 1861, p. 296. Batjan, Ka'saa.

38. ,. pubiseia. Vol. V, 1861, p. 294. Mysol, Batjan.

39. ,', sepsoides. Vol. V, 1861, p. 163. Amboina, Batjan.

40. „ sepedonoides. Vol. VII, 1864, p. 228. Waigoe.'

41. „ speculifer. Vol. VIII, 1865, p. 122. New Guinea,

42. „ strigifer. Vol. VI, 1862, p. 13. Gilolo.

43. „ striqifinis. Vol. V, 1861, p. 295. Batjan.

44. „ sordidvs. Vol. V, 1861, p. 251. Mysol, Waigoe.

45. „ siynatipes. Vol. V, 1861, p. 163. Amboina.

46. ,, terminiftr. Vol. IV, 1860, p. 152. Macassar.

47. „ varialis. Vol. VIII, 1865, p. 123. New Guinea.

There is a second species under the name of divergent, in Vol. V, 1861
. 149. Macassar, Batjan. .

The following species have been described from various localities, but I
have not seen specimens in any of the collections examined.

4*8. Dacus africanus. C. F. Adams, Kansas University Science Bulletin
3, 1905.

49. ,, creoleucus. Wiedemann, Auss. ZweifL, Vol. II, p. 520.

Locality unknown.

50. „ ceneus. Wiedemann, Auss. Zweifl., Vol. II, p. 513. Java.

51. „ armatus. Fabricius, Systema Antliatorum, 1805, 273.

Wiedemann, Auss. Zweifl.,. Vol. II, p. 517, 1828-30.
New Guinea,

52. „ licolor. Wiedemann, Auss. Zweifl., Vol. II, p. 526. Brazil.

53. „ Iraevipes. Fabricius, Syst. Antl. 1805, 272 ; Wiedemann,

Auss. Zweifl., Vol. II, p. 513. Brazil.

99

54. Dacus brevisfriyi. Walker, Trans. Ent. Soc., Vol. V, p. 323,

1858-61. Natal.

55. „ Jlavicornig. Wiedemann, Auss. Zweifl., Vol. II, p. 514.

Brazil.

56. „ fraterculns, Wiedemann, Auss. Zweifl., Vol. II, p. 525.

Brazil.

57. „ fuscafus. Wiedemann, Auss. Zweifl., Vol. II. Locality?

58. „ inflexus. Fabricius, Syst. Antl., 1805, p. 273.

59. „ incisus. Walker, Trans. Ent. Soc., Vol. V, p. 323, 1858-61.

Burmah.

60. ,, kluyii. Wiedemann, Analecta entomologica, 1824, 56, 125,

and Auss. Zweifl., Vol. II, p. 523. East Indies.

61. „ limbipennij. Macquart, Dipteres Exotiques, 1838-42.,

Vol. II, 3, p. 217, plate 29, fig. 9. Java.

62. „ icarus Osten-Saken, Berlin Ent. Zeitschr., XXVI, p. 224,

f. 8 1882. Philippines.

63. Dacus mcwulentus. Wiedemann, Auss. Zweifl., Vol. II, p. 525.

Locality unknown.

64. „ parallelus. Wiedemann, Auss Zweifl., Vol. II, p. 515..

Brazil.

65. „ pectoral u. Walker, Trans. Ent. Soc , Vol. V, page 322,

1858-61. Natal.

66. „ rilsemcp. Weyenberg, Archives Neerlandaises, IV, 1869,

p. 60 ; Osten-Saken, Ann. Museo Genova, XVI, p. 460,
1881. Java.

67. „ serpent inus. Wiedemann, Auss. Zweifl., Vol. II, p. 521.

BrazP.

68. „ squalidit*. Walker, Trans. Ent. Soc., Vol. V, p. 323.

Hindostan.

69. „ tricittatus. Walker, List of Diptera, British Museum, Vol. IV,

1072, 1849. Phillipines.

70. „ umberosus. Fabricius, Syst. Antl., 247 ; Wiedemann, Ausa.

Zweifl., Vol. II, p. 517. Sumatra.

The following names are attached to specimens of Dacus in Mr. Verrall's
collection, said to be in Bigot's handwriting, but are probably MS. names,
and no descriptions, as far as I can find, have been published of them : —

Dacus amoi/ensi*. Bigot, 1845. Amoy.

fulriventris. „ „ New Guinea.

ornatypes. „ „ India.

rvfipptia. „ „ Loc. "?

JulviJus. „ 1842. India.

picfus. „ „ Ceylon.

Genus — CERATITIS.

(Macleay, Zoological Journal, XVII, 1829; Trypeta, Wied. ; PetalopTiora,
Macq. ; Halterophora, Rondani.)

This genus was created by Macleay for the fruit-fly he bred from the
oranges from the Azores ; he did not define either the generic characters of
the group or the specific character of his new species, but instead sent a very
fine, highly-magnified coloured drawing to Mr. Vigors, the editor of the
Zoological Journal, which was beautifully reproduced on plate XV.

190

Wiedemann, who had described it in the genus Trypda, still retained it in
that genus when he published his general work on exotic diptera in 1830.
Afterwards Macquart classed the genus PetalopJiora with this species in the
Nouvelles Suites deBufon, 1835. Guerin, however, placed them in Macleay's
genus when he published his Monograph of a Genus Muscidse named Ceratitis,
and in which he described three new species in 1842.

Rondani, in his Podromus Dipterologicse Italics (1856-77), placed the
members of this genus in a new genus he created, and which he called
HalteropJiora because the n&me Ceratitis was preoccupied. This was followed
by Penzig, in the Annali de Agricoltura, 1887. Tryon used the later name,
which I followed in my Notes on Fruit Flies (Aarieultural Gazette, New South
Wales, 1899). On looking up Rondanfs reasons, I find that the word
Ceratitis has, according to Packard's list of genera, been used three times :
for Molluscia Hann, 1825 ; Macleay Diptera, 1829 ; and Servielle Coleoptera,
1835. However, I do not see why we should discard it, for it is such a
characteristic name, and is not likely to clash with the name of a group of
molluscia. I have, therefore, returned to the old name because, too, it is
still the recognised name for this group in Europe and America.

The Mediterranean Fruit Fly.

(PL VIII., figs, la, 2a, 3, 4a ; PI. V., fig. 18.)

Ceratitis capitata, Wiedemann.

(TepTiritis capitata, Wiedemann, Analecta Entomologica, p. 55, Vol. IV,
1824 ; Ceratitis citriperde, Macleay, Zoological Journal, XVII, p. 475,
pi. xv, 1829; Ceratitis liispanica, de Breme, Annals de la Societe*
Entomologique, Vol. XI, p. 189, pi. vii, 1842).

Though Wiedemann first described this species, it was Macleay's paper,
" Notice of Ceratitis citriperda, an insect very destructive to oranges," that
first called attention to it as an orange pest, under the very appropriate name
of Ceraiitis cilriperda. In this paper he states that he had obtained
specimens from the Azores, where they infested a great quantity of the
oranges, at that date sent from these islands to the London markets. He
says : "I ought, however, to observe that I have seen the perfect fly on a heap
of oranges in the market place of Funchal, in the island of Madeira, and also
in St. Jago, one of the Cape Verds. I am informed, moreover, that a maggot
infests oranges in the West Indies, but I have not myself yet seen it." In
this very interesting paper, Macleay makes some general remarks on the
cleaning up of orchards, which are just as applicable to the fruit-growers of
to-day as they were eighty years ago.

Wiedemann described this species, and said his specimens came from the>
East Indies, and his type, if it still exists, will be found in the Royal Museum
of Copenhagen. All the writers that have followed Wiedemann and Macleay
have taken it for granted that they described the same species, one from the
Azores Islands (though now known all over the Mediterranean region) and
the other from the East Indies ; yet if the locality of Wiedemann's specimens
is correct, it is very strange that Ceratitis capitata has never been discovered
in that part of the world since Wiedemann obtained it. We have the exact
locality of Macleay's specimens, while Wiedemann's is the East Indies, a
variable locality in those days.

101

M. Cattoire. who had been paymaster of the troops in Mauritius, had
noticed orange* infested with ma^ots in the orange groves of that island.
He wrote to Macleay and sent him a sptvim -n. which was, unfortunately, a
female, in which the specific characters were not so easily defined. This
Macleay considered identical with his species ; and misled probably by second-
hand observations, he said the fly deposited her eggs in the ovary of the
orange flowers, and that thy larvae developed with the fruit. This species
w a- afterwards defined by Guerin, who gave it specific rank as Ceratitis
cattoirei.

The Marquis de Breine, in 1842, described specimens which he obtained
from oranges at Malaga, southern Spain, and which he considered distinct
from Macleay's species, under the name of Ceratilis hispanica, and figured both
species in colours. Though there are some slight differences, it is now fairly
evident that de Breme's species is identical with that of Macleay and
Wiedemann.

The original home of Ceratitis capitata is, probably, Spain, one of the
great homes of the orange, and from which, at -the present time, a great
quantity come into the British markets. From there it was carried to the
Azores and the orange-growing islands of that region at a very early date.
It extends right round the Mediterranean ; it is found in the south of France,
and there are several instances of slight outbreaks close to Paris ; but it has
never become established in such northern latitudes. In England, there are
specimens in the Oxford Museum. These were recorded by Westwood in the
Gardeners' Chronicle, 1848, "captured in Thames-street, London, 1848,"
and others were bred from maggots in imported oranges. It is plentiful in
Valencia and Malaga ; at times it destroys a great quantity of oranges in the
latter towrn towards the end of the season.

It is found in southern Italy, at Calabria, and is recorded as a serious pest
at times. It is well known in Sicily, where a number of reports have been
published concerning its depredations, and it is locally known as la mosco
delle a ranee. In 1879-80 it did a great deal of damage in the neighbourhood
of Messina, and also again in l.Sv>_'.

I could obtain no record of it in the Greek Archipelago, nor did I find it
in the markets of Turkey ; hut in Malta it was recorded, according to
Henslow, as a pest in 1875. In the Gardeners' Chronicle, 1890, he stated
that it had been a serious pest for the preceding three years upon mandarin
oranges, and he noticed that the flies were always most numerous in the hot,
dry seasons, and particularly scaro- in col ), wet c:

In 1889 a committee was a} (pointed by the Governor of Malta to draw up
a report on the pest, and on the best methods of dealing with it. They recom-
mended that all fruit infested should be collected and destroyed, and suggested
strewing the surface of the ground with 1 part of sulphate of iron to 24 parts
of sand, the ground to be subsequently watered.

I have been unable to obtain any data of how the pest is controlled at the
present time in Malta.

It was introduced into southern Africa many years ago, and Miss Ormerod,
in her il Observations on some injurious insects of South Africa," gives an
account of the damage it does at the Cape. In Natal and some of the other
African States several native species of Ceratitis have been described as pests
that have turned their attention to cultivated fruits ; but Fuller has lately
recorded the appearance of this species in the Natal orchards in the Fourth

102

'

Report of the Government Entomologist, 1903-4. In this report Fuller
states : " Amongst the batch of newly-observed pests which I have to record
is that known as the Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Ceratitis capitata}."

There are a number of different species of the genus Ceratitis found in the
southern half of Africa, so that it almost appears to he the home of the
group ; and our particular species, C. capitafa, may have been a native of
northern Africa and crossed over into southern Spain.

In the tropical portion of the eastern coast of South America, Lounsbury
found this Mediterranean fruit-fly widely distributed and one of the worst
fruit pests ; but it was there thought to be an introduced fly of somewhat
recent date.

None of the countries of North America or the West Indian Islands
(with the exception of Bermuda) are infested with this fruit-fly, though the
conditions seem well adapted to its habits.

It was recorded as a peach-pest in Bermuda in 1890 in " Insect Life "; but
is said to have infested fruit on this island for about forty years. Howard,
when he identified the species, suggested that the orchardists should clean up
their orchards and burn or' bury all infested fruit ; but no particular measures
were taken until last year, when the Board of Agriculture had an Act passed,
entitled the Fruit Fly Destruction Act of 1907. This Act came into force
on 1st March of that year, the Legislature having granted £500 for the
purpose of carrying out the recommendations of the Board of Agriculture,
namely, "that an attempt be made to eradicate the insect pest known as the
fruit-fly (Ceratitis capitata)" The following remarks are taken from a
report furnished by Mr. T. I. Harris, Director of the Public Gardens, under
whose supervision the work was placed, and which was printed in The
Bermuda Colonist, 12th August, 1907 :—

"It is almost safe to assert that the flies of each succeeding generation
remain around about the trees whose fruits afford the food necessary for the
maggot ; and from this it might be inferred that if fruit-growing became an
industry in Bermuda, the planting of orchards of mixed fruit-trees is to be
particularly avoided, unless growers are prepared to keep the ground under
the trees perfectly clear of weeds, and to collect and destroy promptly all
fallen fruit.

" Though the great variety of fruiting-trees growing here is insufficient to
furnish propagating media for flies throughout the whole year, each successive
generation making use of a different kind of fruit, without doubt the Surinam
cherry (Eugenia MicJiili) has been the most potent factor in perpetuating the
pest. There are two main crops of fruit, one in the spring and another in
the fall, but stragglers between each cause the two crops to overlap.

"The loquats (Eriobotryajaponica), ripening in February and March, are
used by the fruit-flies of the year, from the puparia that have lived dormant
in the ground during the two coldest months, and the larvae hatched from the
eggs of these flies begin to pupate before the loquats are all over. In some
instances this year, where the fruit had been pecked by birds and had
shrivelled on the trees, complete pupae were found within the fruit. At the
end of April and during May, the peach, cherry, oranges (both sweet and
sour), lemons and limes, Barbados gooseberry, and capsicums bring forth
another crop of maggots that, after pupation, are just in time for the sapo-
dillas in June and July. Following these are the mangoes, coffee, sweet
peppers, cherries again, avacado pears, guavas, sugar apples, cherimoyas,
quinces, coco-plum, granadillas, and star apples, which serve as propagating
. media until the final resting brood goes to earth during December.

103

•' The general plan has been to collect and destroy all the mature fruits o£
nil kinds known to be punctured throughout the country ; and in such cases,
where trees bearing large numbers of small fruit are too numerous, about
90 per cent, have been pruned back to prevent their producing fruit during
the next fruiting season ; by doing this it is possible to collect all the fruits
produced by the trees that were left unpruned last season.

" The fruits were collected in sacks, weighted by inserting a big stone
before closing the bag, and thrown into the sea. In a few instances it proved
more convenient to burn or boil the fruits.

" The work was begun as soon as possible after the Act came into force.
Ten sets of tools were purchased, and an inspector was appointed for each of
the nine parishes, and the inspectors were supplied with labourers as necessity
demanded."

In reply to my request for further information, Mr. Harris sent me a copy
of their Act and an interesting letter, part of which I extract. He says : — •

" We are working here in Bermuda on the assumption that the female fly
dies after all its eggs have been laid, and that if we carefully collect the fruits
as soon as the eggs are laid in them, we get at the root of the trouble. We
had already, last year, reduced the number of fruit-trees about to just a few in
each parish, and these are being kept under close observation. At this time
(1st March) last year there were, I should say, several millions of loquat
fruits teeming with maggots and the fruit rotting on the ground. This year
the observation trees that were permitted to fruit have proved to us that we
are working on the right lines. Of about 100 trees we left to fruit in the
whole country, about seventy have matured their fruits without a single
puncture, while the remainder have had less than 50 per cent, punctured
once or twice, and these have all been collected. For the last fifty years the
peaches have begun to ooze sap when they were as large as marbles ; this
year, now, the trees are laden with fruit as large as hen's eggs and not a single
one punctured.

" We were careful, you see, not to destroy all the fruit, fearing that the fly
went about and punctured things unknown to us ; they appear to find their
way to the observation trees, but I am of opinion that they do not, as a rule;
travel very far ; indeed, I had come to that conclusion last summer, that if
one orchardist were to collect and destroy all diseased fruit and his neighbours
did not, his neighbours' flies would not go over the fence unless they were
blown over by the wind. We had at the end of last summer sapodillas
(Achras sopota] and anonas quite free of maggots, and also a few late peaches.

" I have at the garden two large loquat trees near some old peach trees ;
all are in full fruit, the peaches quite large and no sign of a puncture, while
the loquats show 50 per cent, with just one deposit of eggs each. I have
caught and killed five flies on the two trees — the last a week ago, — and now
there are no more; have gathered all the 'stung' fruit and am leaving the
rest to ripen. The flies appear to prefer ripe loquats to unripe peaches, for
the branches of both trees intermingle yet the peaches are not punctured.

" I notice also that the punctured spots contain from two to five eggs this
year, whereas last year at this time as many as twelve and fourteen were
found in each hole, while each fruit was punctured in as many as twenty
places.

"It is very evident also that the flies go about 'stinging' the fruit some
time after all the eggs are laid, for many of the single punctures contain
no eggs at all, yet the flesh of the fruit is killed at that point, the dead
portion being •& of an inch wide and a J deep. Can you say what the
poison is ? "

104

The first record of Ceratitis capitata in Australia was made by Fuller
(Journal of the Bureau of Agriculture, W.A., February, 1897). Later on he
stated that it was first observed at Guildford in October and November of the
previous year infesting limes, afterwards in apricots, and towards the end of
the year in peaches, nectarines, and figs. In the March number of the
same journal he gave a good plate of the fly and its life history. Tryon in
the meantime received specimens from Western Australia, and determined it
as the well-known fruit pest of the Mediterranean (77. capitata). In the
following year (1898) French wrote to me from Melbourne stating that he
had bred this fly from peaches imported into Victoria from Sydney, and a
few days later I was surprised to find a number of the identical .species
flying about in the breeding-jars in my laboratory, breeding from fruit that
was supposed to be infected with Queensland fruit-fly. As we were all on
the lookout for this fruit pest at tne time, there can be no doubt about the
time of its arrival in Sydney. It was established in Western Australia
nearly two years before it was discovered in Sydney ; at that time a good
deal of citrus fruit was being imported into Australia vid Italy, though some
of it was brought in the first instance from the African coast and reshipped
from Naples. At that time, too, fruit-fly was common in the African oranges,
and also in southern Italy and Sicily. Therefore there is very strong evidence
that we got it from European countries ; and though we may have had it
direct from Western Australia, it is just as likely that it was brought to us
by fruit in one of the mail steamers. The popular name. " Mediterranean
Fruit Fly," was first used by me (" Notes on Fruit-maggot Flies, with descrip-
tions of New Species," Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales] to distin-
guish it from the northern species, which we call the " Queensland Fruit Fly"
(Dacus tryoni].

This fly has spread all through the citrus orchards of New South Wales to
a greater or less extent, but until a fjw years ago was unknown in the
southern parts of this State and the adjoining State of Victoria. At the
present time, however, it is found in orchards at Albury and in quite a
number of Victorian orchards, where it has become more or less established.

For a long time it was believed that it was not to be found in Queensland ;
and though, from what I can learn, it is not common, yet it is found in
Queensland fruit, and I have specimens from Brisbane. Though it has been
introduced into Tasmania several times in damaged fruit, it has not gained a
footing in that State ; and South Australia is to be congratulated on keeping
this pest out of its boundaries. In Western Australia, in the vicinity of
Perth and all through the citrus orchards, it is as great a pest to fruit-growing
as in the similar climate of New South Wales.

In New Zealand, according to their last Annual Report (1907), this fruit-
fly has been introduced into that country on several occasions, and was
established to the extent that fruit grown in Napier and sent to another part
of New Zealand produced a large crop of Mediterranean fruit-flies. There is,
however, without doubt a climate limit to the spread and development of this
pest, even though it may appear in considerable numbers under particularly
favourable conditions for one season, as it did in the neighbourhood of Paris
in 1906, as described by Professor A. Giard.

From inquiries I made in Paris from Professor Marchel, it is evident that
they did not become properly established, for they were not a pest the
following year.

105

Ceratitis capitata, in the first place, is a citrus fruit post, but as it has
spread has learnt to feed upon all kinds of fruits ; and after the orange may
be known as a peach pest. At the present time there is hardly any kind of
fruit that it has not been bred from, so that any list of infested fruit is quite
{superfluous. In fact, they have been bred from a number of native fruits;
but the native fruits are so rare, comparatively speaking, in the greater part
of the fruit-growing districts of Australia, that they are not an important
factor in the spread of the pest, and are more likely to be infested themselves
from an adjacent orchard than to be a centre of infection to the orchard.
Ceratitis cap data has been described in a more or less imperfect manner a
great man}- times, but is better known from the beautiful coloured figures,
published by Macleay, and again by Breme, when he called it C. hispanica.
As several new species have been added to the members of this genus, and
some confusion exists about the identity of the ( arlier described species, I
propose not to give a scientific description but a popular one, that anyone
can grasp with the insect before them.

Size, 4 to 5 mm., about the size of an average house-fly, but looking some-
Avhat smaller when dead, because the body shrinks up beneath the thorax.
General colour, ochreous yellow, lighter on the sides of thorax and basal
joints of the antennae. Tne eyes of the usual reddish purple tint, with a
blackish blotch in the centre of the forehead, from which spring two stout
black bristles, a fine fringe of similar bristles round the hind margin of the
head, with some coarser ones cuiving round in front of the head between the
eyes. The thickened basal joints of the antennae pale yellow, the terminal
segments black to the tips. The dorsal surface of the thorax convex, raised,
and broadly rounded with the scutellum, the ground colour creamy white to
yellow, marbled with shining black blotches forming an irregular mosaic
pattern, the lighter portions clothed with very fine white bristles. These
light-coloured bristles more lightly scattered over the dark areas, and the
whole bearing large stout black bristles thickest on the black surface.

In many of the pictures of this insect the black areas are drawn as if they
were projecting bosses or knobs, but this is incorrect ; the whole forms a
regular rounded surface.

The wings are broad, semi-opaque, with the extreme base blotched with
ochreous or brownish yellow, with the rest of the basal area curiously marked
Avith black, forming dark lines of the radiating neivures, with dark lines and
spots between ; beyond this is a broad irregular transverse ochreous band,
slightly lined with black, blotched at the extremity ; another similar shaped
and coloured blotch runs along inside but not in contact with the costal
nervure, also black towards the extremity in tta angular space. Between
these bands is another shorter black band rirnning parallel with the first
transverse band.

The oval abdomen is clothed on the upper surface with fine, scattered
black bristles, and has two rather broad transverse silvery white bands on
the basal half of the body. The male differs from the female in being furnished
A\ ith a pair of stalked appendages standing out in front of the head in a line
•with the front margin of the eyes, the extremities of which filaments an-
produced into spatulite appendages, black, finely striated, and diamond
shaped.

The living fly is an active little creature, running about over the foliage or
fruit on the trees, with its win^s drooping down on the sides of the body.
When disturbed it has a short flight, seldom flying more than a few yards at
the most, and it often returns to the same spot.

1C6

Ceratitis punctata, Wiedemann.

(Trypeta 'punctata, Wiedemann, Anale3ta Entomol., 1824, p. 55, n. 123;
Ausseurop. Zweiflugel Insecten, 2 Thl., 1830, 4-55, 15. Gerdtitis punctata,
Von Roder, Barl. Entomol Z3itschrii't, 29 Jahry, 133, 2.)

Examining the Bigot collection. (Mr. G. H. Verrall's), I found one speci-
men under this name which had th.3 dorsal surface spotted, very like that of
C. capitata.

In the Royal Museum of Hungary there is a specimen under this name>
which has a uniform grey tint on the dorsxl surface. The wing neuration as
in C. capitala, at the base, but very irregularly barred on the apical portion.
The dorsal surface of the thorax showing the same shining bla^k areas, but
in this specimen they appeared to form irregular raised bosses. It was
labelled " German West Africa."

Ceratitis Iremii, Guerin.

(Rev. Zool., 1843, p. 199.)

General colour pale yellow, with the under surface of the thorax shaded
with reddish, the whole insect covered with very close whitish-yellow
pubescence, the colour of the sides. The scutellum black at the base,
whitish-yellow in front, bordered with bright yellow behind, with longitu-
dinal lines of the same bright yellow, which thus forms three large black
square blotches. The wings resemble those of Ceratitis cattoirei, but
showing only one oblique band of brown towards the lower edge of the
wing, between the middle band and the side band, yellow from the side to
the middle, transverse — and not in contact with the other bands.

Abdomen pale yellow, uniformly clothed with fine' whitish-grey pubescence,
with scattered black bristles on the side* and apex ; legs paly yellow.

Length, 5 mm. Habitat — Senegal, Africa. One female specimen, collected
by Captain Meon,

Ceratitis dentipes, Guerin.

(Rev. Zool., 1843, p. 200.)

The following account is translated from Guerin's description of this fly,
which he appears to have placed in this genus, not because he was certain it
belonged to it, but because he did nob quite know where to place it.

In the Verrall collection there is a specimen labeled Ceratitis dentipes,
Macq., which may be the type, as it is marked Port Jackson. There is only
the head and wing remaining on the pin, but the latter is very different in its
markings, which form lines' and circles at the base, with a characteristic
reddish-yellow triangular blotch clouded with black in the centre of the wing.

Guerin says : — " This curious species will probably become the type of a
new genus, on account of the singular projection on its head, which does not
resemble the horns of the male Ceratitis. However, we have not judged it
necessary to establish one for a single species of which we have only one
specimen, and have, therefore, placed it in the genus Ceratitis, to which it
shows the most characters. In case it is judged necessary to separate that
insect generally, we propose to give to that group the name of Lenophila
(lenos, fruit ; philos, I love). Head pale yellowish-red, very bright on the
sides or the cheeks, a line beside the eyes, and the posterior part of the sides.
of the thorax pale yellowish-white. On each side of the vertex beside the
eyes is a black blotch, which unites at the back with a larger blotch on the

107

posterior side of the head ; the space occupied by the ocelli very black ; the-
oeelli veiy prominent, reddish-brown. The front of the epistome black with
pale reddish sides ; the antennae pale reddish -yellow, like the front of the
head, the bristles brown, and slightly downy. In the middle of the face,
immediately below the insertion of the antennae, is a sort of horn or mem-
braneous plate, smaller than the surface, compressed between the eyes, almost
square in form, turned up at the anterior edge, and of a pale reddish-yellow
colour. The exposed part of the palpi is pale red, and the horn blackish-
brown. The thorax is of a uniform shining black, but ought to have had
blotches or grey lines, for one still perceives some traces of grey hairs on the
less exposed parts. The scutellum very large, globular, and rounded like the
other species of Ceratitis, but without blotches; the sides of the dorsal
surface shining black, and show, by the remains of fine hairs, that they have,
perhaps, been thus clothed when the insect was fresh. The wings hyaline,
with blackish nervures ; those at the base are widened, with their spaces
marked with blotches and little black lines as one sees only in the Geratitis ;
beyond the spotted area and little before the middle, there is a large trans-
verse band of blackish-brown, bent at the side, and carrying a second oblique
band, which just reaches the lower margin, between the first band and the
summit of the wing ; there is, further at extreme tip of the wing, a
brown band which parts from two-thirds the length of the wing and along
the upper edge to the extremity. The abdomen is triangular, of a bluish-
black tint, with transverse bands of soft grey hairs. Legs brown, with the
knees and the first two or three joints of the tardi yellow ; the hind legs
thick at the base, without spines on the inside of the external extremity, with
two large tubercules or rounded teeth.

This specimen of the male sex is 6J millimetres in length. It has been
given to us as coming from Port Jackson, New Holland (now Sydney, New
.South Wales).

The Mauritius Fruit Fly.
Ceratitis cafoirei, Guerin.
(Rev. Zool., 1843, p. 197.)

In a paper entitled a " Monograph d'un Gene de Muscides nomme Ceratitis"
Guerin describes all the known species of the genus at that date, and adds
several new species, among which is this species. The following is a trans-
lation of Guerin's description : —

" Head antennae and face of a pale yellow colour, the horn (spatulate tipped
bristle ?) of the male inserted at the anterior extremity of a little oblong
tubercle near the eyes, a little longer than the head, and terminating into a,
spatulate process of a triangular shape, or truncate at the tip. Thorax black,
shining on the dorsal surface, with fine white-grey transverse ridges above
on the front edge, formed of a very fine close pubescence broken into the
middle, with two large black spots, showing on the other hand near the hind
margin a transverse line and trident-shaped mark of golden yellow. Scutellum
shining black, globular, ornamented near the base with a line like the pre-
ceding one, but much deeper and sinuous ; posterior edge of the metathorax
below the scutellum covered with lines of fine white silvery pubescence.
Wings hyaline, with a slight touch of yellow on the nervures, the points
black at the base ; a large transverse yellow band edged with blackish, side by
side, and stained with black spots from the middle to the tip, and from the
side of the inner edge a brown band goes obliquely towards the side, and then

10S

bending before reaching there, in order to reunite at the middle of the band ;
between it and the costal band there is a little patch of the same colour more
bruised and mottled.

Abdomen of a very bright yellow, with the base and posterior edge of the
iirst segment and the posterior half of the third segment silvery white, pro-
duced by a very fine silvery pubescence. Legs, bright yellow, hairy ; the
forelegs fringed with fine hairs, yellow, almost orange.

In the female the vertex is pale yellow, slightly brighter than the front
part of the head ; the extremities of two slight tubercles, which are near
the eyes, carry a strong spiny-black bristle, resembling the other stout bristles
on the head in both sexes. The wings resemble those of the male, but have
the brown blotches more pronounced.

Length — Male, 5 to 6 mm. ; female, 6-7 mm.

Habitat — Mauritius.

There is a specimen of a male under the name of Ceratitis catoirei in. the
Verrall Collection determined by Bigot that I examined, which has the
abdomen more silvery than G. capitata, and has the spatulate tipped bristles
on the forehead well developed, but the terminal tips, instead of being
diamond-shape, were truncate at the tips.

Habitat — Isles Bourbon and Mauritius.

This species was first collected by Mr. Cattoire on the Isle de France
(Mauritius). He sent them to several entomologists and to W. S. Macleay,
who confounded them with the species he described as G. citriperda.
Guerin-Meneville, however, obtained several specimens, and among them
some males, which decided him that it was a distinct species, so he named it
after the discoverer. Macleay spells the name Cattoire, but Guerin spells it
Catoire.

Ceratitis (?) penicillata, Bigot.
(Annals Soc. Ent., France, Vol. XL., p. 308, 1891.)

" Length, 4 mm. Male. Antennae incomplete."

Notwithstanding the mutilation of the antennae and the absence, probably
accidental, of the frontal appendages, the face and other characters seem to
demonstrate that this insect is certainly a Ceratitis, so that it seems best
to consider it the type of a new species.

Basal segments of the antennae pale red (the third wanting), face front and
cheeks whitish ; a large brown quadrangular spot on the epistome. Thorax
whitish-grey, marked with four indistinct brownish lines ; scutellum whitish,
marked at the posterior edge with three black shining points ; abdomen
greyish-white with the base of the segments blackish, halteres whitish.
The first two pair of legs yellowish-white, the apex of the thighs of the fore-
legs brown, with the thighs on the upper surface clothed with some incurved
black bristles in the second pairof legs, the middle of the thighs, and the extrem-
ity of the tibiae lightly stained with brown ; the hind legs of the same colour as
the middle legs, but have the tibiae fringed inwardly to the extremity with
some long stiff black bristles a little flattened and dense. The wings are
whitish, with some black points showing at the base, and five others
disposed along the fourth and fifth longitudinal nervures, the wings further
ornamented with four large reddish transverse bands, the first near to the
base, the second through the middle, the third longitudinal to the outer edge
and joining the second, to touch the other part, the tip of the wing ; the
fourth and last placed on the second transverse nervure and extending to the
edge, until a little beyond the nervure.

109

The Natal Fruit Fly.

(PL V, fig. 19.)
Ccratitis rulivora, Coquillet.

(Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, Vol. XXIV, p. 29, No. 1,243,

1901.)

" Head yellowish, a grey spot streaked with black above the neck and
sending a wide stripe to each eye, a black ocellar dot ; mouth parts and
antennae yellow, the arista short plumose, brown, the base yellow, antennre
three-fourths as long as the face, front in both sexes bearing only normal
bristles, thorax yellowish-brown, largely greyish pruinose, mesonotum
marked on each side with a broad, interrupted, black, polished stripe and
with three narrow, indistinct, black, median lines which at their posterior ends
expand so as to meet each other; between this point and the scutellnm is a
transverse pair of polished, whitish spots, humeri whitish, upper part of
mesopleura yellow ; scutellum yellow, the outer margin marked with three
black spots, metonotum polished black, crossed in the middle by a broad
transverse, opaque, greyish pruinose fascia emarginate in the middle of the lower
edge, two yellow spots on each side of the metathorax ; abdomen yellowish,
the third and fifth segments, except a large triangular spot in the middle of
each, black ; wings hyaline, a brown cross-band on a line with the humeral
cross-vein, followed by about ten brown dots, a second brown cross-band,
yellowish in the vicinity of the small cross-vein, extends from the costa
beyond apex of auxiliary vein to apex of the sixth, including the small
cross-vein in its outer portion ; a brown stripe, yellowish in the central part,
extends close to the costa from beyond apex of first vein to beyond apex of the
third, its margins marked with four or five darker brown dots; an elongated,
oblique, brown spot on the fourth vein before its apex, and a larger one
bordering the hind cross vein : legs yellow, in the n:ale the front femora
marked with a black streak on the upper and ar other on the posterior side,
middle femora on the broad apex, except a streak on the anterior side and
the extreme apex, black ; hind femora with a black spot before apex of urder
side prolonged as a streak in the middle of the anterior side ; middle tibiae,
except the extreme ends, black ; in the male the under side of middle femora
on the apical half, also the inner and outer sides of the middle tibiae, densely
fringed with long flattened bristles ; halteres yellowish ; ovipositor of female
irri'jitly flattened, the basal piece as long as the last two abdominal segments.
Length, 4 to 5 mm.

Type in the United States National Museum. Specimens collected at
Wynberg, Cape Colony, South Africa.

Specimens of this fruit-fly were sent to Coquillet by C. P. Lounsbury,
from Cape Colony, to be" identified, or described if new. He returned the
« "-types to Mr. Loimsbury, who has very kindly presented me with
specimens.

This fly is about the same size as Ceratatis cctpilata, but of a general
lighter brown tint ; the dark markings on the dorsal surface of the thorax
wanting, or only showing faint traces on the hind half; while the scutellum
is very prominent with a large square black mark in the centre, and a
smaller rounded one on either side. The apex of the thorax is more silvery,
and the two bands round the abdomen are more grey than mauve. The

110

'

stout black bristles on the head and thorax are much more numerous, and
the wings are somewhat different, as will be seen on comparing the drawings
on plate 5.

The curious spatulate face appendages are not present in the male of this
species.

From the description and figures given by Fuller in his First Report of
the Government Entomologist of Natal, 1899-1900, page 70, and Second
Report, 1901, page 20, it is evident that this is the common species in Natal,
though in his report it is identified as Ceratitis corysa, Walker. According
to Von Roder the species described by Walker as Trypeta cosyra is identical
with our Ceratitis capitata, so that Coquillet's name will stand. Fuller says :
"This insect ranks a good first among fruit-pests of Natal. It is impossible
to say whether it is an introduction into the country or no^. It has been
known upon the coast belt as far back, I believe, as old colonists can
remember, and is simply credited by them with being worse nowadays than
then. It is only during the last twenty to thirty years, however, that it has
been known at Maritzburg. It ranges up the coast about 150 miles, and is
said to be spreading all over the colony. It infests all kinds of cultivated
fruits, and several native wild fruits."

NOTE. — Lounsbury since tells me that he does not consider these species
identical ; and also that while (7. rubivora is only bred from blackberries,
C. corysa infests all fruits.

Cera tat is lycii, Coquillet.

(Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, Vol. XXIV, p. 30,
No. 1,243, 1901.)

" Head yellow, a black spot above the neck, sending a branch to each eye,
a black spot in the middle of upper part of face ; antennae yellow, three-
fourths as long as the face, proboscis brown, the palpi yellow, body black,
mesonotum opaque greyish pruinose, the margin produced inward at the
front and hind angles, and in the middle in front, also a pair of round dots
behind the suture, polished ; a spot on the humerus uniting with a broad
stripe on upper edge of pleura, also a sinuous, interrupted line at base of
scutellum, light yellowish ; abdomen polished, the posterior portion of the
first and third segments opaque, whitish pruinose, remainder of third
segment opaque, brownish pruinose ; ovipositor flat beneath, convex above,
the basal portion as long as the last two abdominal segments ; wings hyaline, a
broad brown cross-band in a line with humeral cross- vein, followed by three or
four longitudinal brown streaks and about nine brown dots, a second brown
cross-band extends from beyond apex of auxiliary vein to apex of last vein,
at the costa united with a broad brown stripe that extends along the costa
to midway between apices of third and fourth veins, filling the costal
margin to the third vein, and near middle of last section of the latter, sending
a branch obliquely to the wing margin below apex of fourth vein ; the second
cross-band also sends a branch from the small cross-vein obliquely to the apex
of fifth vein, covering the hind cross-vein ; the costal margin is very narrowly
hyaline between apices of the first and third veins, except a pair of brown
dots between apices of first and second veins ; extreme base of wings
yellowish; legs, including the front coxa?, yellow. Length, 4 mm." Type
in the United States National Museum (No. 5,791). Described from
specimens from Cape Colony, South Africa.

Ill

Ceratitis rosa, Karsch.
(Entomologische Nachrichten, Vol. XIII, p. 22, 1887.)

" Shining black, with brownish-yellow hairs ; thorax with two shining
black spots on the subdorsal sides ; the sides of the sternum yellow ;
scutellum shining black, transversal line on the base and four longitudinal
lines dull orange yellow, with transverse lines on the abdomen ; with shining
black spot on the dull yellow face, antennae and legs yellow, the tibia of the
mid legs clothed with fine bluish-black scale-like hairs along the edges."

Length, 5 mm. Habitat — Delagoa Bay, Africa.

At Mr. G. H. Verrall's, when examining the Bigot Collection, I found
one specimen under this name which had the body much lighter coloured
than in C. capifata, the wings much more spotted along the costal margin,
the black coloration on the scutellum forming four black spots. It was
labelled Natal, South Africa, and appeared to be distinct from C. rubivora
of Coquillet.

Ceratitis striata, n. sp.
(PL V., fig. 17.)

Length, 5 to 6 mm. General colour pale yellow to greyish, with the upper
surface of tho thorax variegated with black. Wings hyaline, marked with
fine black lines and spots on the basal portion, with a broad parallel dull
yellow band along the costa from the apex of the black markings, and
curving well round tho apex of the wing ; from this run two broad and one
narrow irrpgular transverse bands crossing the wing, so that with the curve
of the tip it appears to have four ( rans verse bars ; both the parallel stripe and
transverse bands slightly clouded with fuscous. Head of male without the
curious spatulate tipped hairs of C. capitata, eyes dark, face unspotted but
lightly marked with brown above the antennae, a dark spot on the summit,
clothed with coarse scattered black bristles. Thorax elongate, stained with
chestnut brown in front on dorsal surface, the rest greyish, with the shining
black areas not so compact as in C. capitata, and forming three very irregular
black parallel bars, the outer ones thickest : the scutellum shining black,
slightly mottled behind, and below it on the apex of the thorax black ; the
whole of the thor.ix lightly clothed with stout black bristles, of which two
long ones spring out from the hind edge of the scutellum ; the legs pale
yellow, with stout spine-like hairs on the femora and rows of very fine short
spines down the angles of the tibiae. Abdomen broadly rounded in the male,
that of the fern-vis produced into a long pointed sheath at the anal segment ;
greyish, very indistinctly banded, covered with fine hairs, with a few
scattered bristles, forming a tuft of four or five at the tip. Habitat.
Peradenyia Gardens, Ceylon.

When examining the insect collections of Mr. E. E. Green, Government
Entomologist at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradenyia, I came across a
series of fruit-flies with No. 1,466 attached to them, and on Mr. West
turning up the records we found the following note under this number: —
<( Bred from the decaying shoots of bamboo, Peradenyia, 1903." There was
a fine series of both male and female specimens, though somewhat mouldy.

I propose the name sfriata on account of the black markings on the thorax
forming irregular band", and also the markings on the basal portion of the
wings being more striate than spotted.

112

The Baluchistan Melon Fly.

Carpomyia pardalina, Bigot.
(Indian Museum Notes, Vol. II, No. 7, 1891-93, p. 51.)

This curious fly, which is very closely allied to the Mediterranean fruit-fly,
•was discovered and bred by Mr. J. Cleghorn, who found them in Peshin at an
elevation of 5,000 feet, where they were infesting the young melons and were
most injurious toward the end of summer. He gives a very interesting
account (" Miscellaneous Notes, Indian Museum," page 24, vol. II) of its life
history, and says he is of opinion that the hard winters kill the majority of
the hibernating pupre, so that it is after a mild winter that the insect is
chiefly abundant.

The following is a translation of Bigot's technical description of this fly,
specimens of which I examined in the Calcutta Museum : — "Length, male
4| mm., female 5^r mm. with the ovipositor. Eyes brilliant, bronzy green ;
head with antennae, proboscis, and palpi pale fawn colour, long bristles,
blackish, the antenna! bristle black with white at the base. Thorax pale
fawn, front of the thorax with two very narrow reddish lines, behind whitish,
with four large shiny black rounded projecting spots on each side of the
dorsal surface ; the scutellum with three large spots situated on the side, and
one small median blotch all alike ; the long bristles black ; legs pale fawn
colour, thighs of forelegs rather thickened, with several brownish hairs
beneath. Abdomen pale fawn colour, the base of the segments greyish,
brown. Wings hyaline, with three large fawn transverse bands, the one at
the extremity divided into a V, of which the outward branch turns round
the tip of the wing ; all the margins of the bands greyish, particularly the
one at the tip of the wing.

" Female resembling the male, with the ovipositor reddish, short, and
blunt."

According to Maxwell Lefroy (" Indian Insect Pests," 1906), its life history
has been worked out in the Report of Lala Vishwa, Entomological Assistant,
Punjab.

Genus — TRYPETA, Meigon.

(Illigers Magazin, Vol. II, p. 277, 1803.)

This genus contains a number of very handsome flies remarkable for the rich
coloration of their wings and bright-coloured eyes. In many species they
have the body clothed with scattered more or less stout blackish bristles, and
very little pubescence. The larvae live in vegetable matter, the female by
means of her pointed ovipositor depositing her eggs in the tissue of the plant,
and a number of them produce curious galls. There are a number of species
peculiar to Australia, and two species are known as fruit pests.

The Mexican Fruit Fly.

(PL III, fig. 12.)

Try pet a ludens, Loew.

( Monograph of the Diptera of North America. Part III. Smithsonian

Misc. Coll., No. 256. Washington, 1873, p. 223, PJ. 11, fig. 19.)

This fruit-fly was known many years ago among the Mexican fruit-growers

as an orchard pest, attacking the orange, mango, guava, and other fruits. It

appears to be a native of Mexico, but its exact home has never been decided.

Until the growing of oranges became a profitable industry and an export

trade sprang up in the United States, little or no notice was taken of its

113

In 1S97, Dr. L. O. Howard, in the Year-book of the United
States Department of Agriculture, called the attention of the American
orrhardists to the danger of introducing such a serious pest into the orange
orchards of California with infested fruit. The result was, that in 1900 the
Commissioner of the State Board of Horticulture in California brought an
Act into existence prohibiting the importation of Mexican oranges into Cali-
fornia, in consequence of having found infested oranges in their State,
shipped from the port of Acupulco ; and he gave instructions that any con-
Munments coining from any part of Mexico should at once be destroyed.
Tin's action raised a storm of indignation among the Mexican growers and
t heir ( Jovernment ; the former declared that it was simply a case of protection
nt' the home market for the Californian orchardists.

In 190"), Mr. John Isaacs was sent by the Governor of California to inves-
tigite the range and state of the fruit-fly in Mexico, and accompanied by Pro-
fessor A. S. Herrera (Commissioner de Parasitologia), he visited all the chief
centres of the orange industry. His report on the Mexican Orange Worm
'Irypeta £*dtat*), with many illustrations, and a map of the infested States,
\\as published by the State Board of Horticulture in California on his return.
The restrictions as regards California were not removed, but the Mexican
oranges were allowed admission into the Eastern States, though the high
protective tariff on oranges imposed by the United States Customs makes it
almost prohibitive.

This \\as one of the fruit-flies that I was particularly anxious to see and
investigate, as it was an orange pest in the first instance, though, like most
fruit-flies, it incidentally infests other fruit when numerous.

On my arrival in Mexico, the first thing I did was to see the authorities
at the Department of Agriculture, examine all their specimens, and obtain
all the information they had regarding their habits, range, and the methods
enforced to keep them in check. Through the kindness of Professor A. S.
Herrera, Chief of the Bureau de Parasitologia, and Dr. Giandra, the Patho-
logist, I obtained much valuable information. Both these gentlemen were
very emphatic regarding the uselessness of the parasite (Cratosipla rudibunda),
which was figured and described in the Californian Report, as a check upon
this fly. I had previously received specimens of this little red wasp from
Professor Koebele, which he had bred from infested mangoes from the Mexican
market the year before.

This fruit-fly, about 4J lines in length, is of a general dull ochreous
yellow colour, with large hyaline wings mottled and striped with brownish-
yellow bands, forming a very irregular pattern, as seen in the figure of the
wing given. The female is remarkable for the great elongation of the anal
segment of the abdomen, which is considerably longer than the rest of the
abdominal segments combined. As far as I know, it is not recorded from any
other country, but has an extended range over the fruit-growing districts of
Mexico.

The Island Fruit-fly.

(PI. VII, figs. 1, 2, and 3a.)

Trypeta miisce, Froggatt.

(Agricultural Gazette, N.S. IF., June, 1899, p. 501, PI. II, figs. 1 and 2.
' Miscellaneous Publications Dep. Agriculture, N.S.W., No. 303.)

In the original description the numbers on the plate were transposed, but
the species are very distinct.

114

The maggots of this fly were on several occasions obtained from condemned
bananas coining in shipments of fruit from the New Hebrides. The maggots
are easily distinguished from the Queensland species by the different colour
and for. n of the anal respiratory tubes, which are black and small at the
orifice. The fully-developed maggot is larger, and of a darker colour, the
pupse lighter yellow, and somewhat more rounded in form.

Within i he last few years this species has been introduced into Queens-
land, where it is quite common in cultivated fruit ; and last year (1908) Mr.
Gurnpy bred quite a number in the Gosford district from various fruits.

It is allied to Trypeta bicolor, Macq., a species peculiar to Australia, and
which I have collected on the wing in the Bathurst district, New South
Wales ; but it is a much lighter-coloured fly, with the wings more lightly
clouded.

This fly measures three lines in length, and has a wing expanse of six
lines. The head is small, ochreous, with dark eyes, and the whole of the
upper surface covered with stout, black bristles, which extend over the dorsal
surface of the thorax; the antennae yell *w, with a long bristle standing out
from the apex of the second joint, the terminal joint short and rounded.
'The thorax is brownish yellow, rounded in front, broad to the base of the
wings, and sloping round to the scutellum, which is rounded in front, pro-
duced into a spine on either side of the hind margin. The legs lightish-
brown, with the tarsal spines, claws, and tibial spines of the hind legs black.
Wings hyaline at base, with all the upper half black to dark brown, with an
irregular hyaline blotch on the costal nervure extending to the subcostal cell ;
two small, rounded, hyaline spots on each side below, and mottle-brown
clouding in the lower cells. The abdomen is small, light brown at base,
black on the apical half, covered with coarse hairs.
. Habitat — New Hebrides, Queensland, and New South Wales.

NOTE. — Through the experiments carried out at Narara by Mr. Gurriey it
has been discovered that this fly breeds in the native fruits in that district,
and is particularly abundant in the " Black Apple " (Achris australe).
Within the last month (February) I have bred it from the same wild fruit
collected at Thiirjul, south of Sydney, so that it has a wide range along the
coast. It is also very doubtful if this species ever puncturt s perfectly sound
orchard fruit. All the evidence gained by Mr. Gurney and myself after
close observation in the orchard for th^ last six months, tends to the conclu-
sion that unless a fruit has a bruise, blemish, or has been previously
punctured by s(*me other insect, it is not touched by the Island Fruit-fly.

The Apple Maggot.

(PI. VIII, figs. 1, 2, and 3.)

Rhagofetet (Trypeta) pomonella, Walsh.

(American Journal of Horticulture, December, 1867, p. -338.)
This is a well-known apple pest in the eastern portion of the United
States and Canada wherever apples are grown, and among the orchardists is
popularly known as the " Railroad Worm," on account of the regular winding
tracks it makes when eating its way through the tissue of the infested apple.
It is a native of North America, and its original food was the wild haws,
and, probably, crab apples, so that the cultivated apple is an acquired habit,

115

It has been recorded from England, to which country it has probably been
introduced with fruit from America, but is hardly a pest in the former
country.

Nearly all the writers upon economic entomology in North America have
written upon this pest. In the Annual Report of Maine Agricultural
Experiment Station, 1890, Professor L. F. Harvey gives the results of his inves-
tigati ms into its life history in the years 1888-9. In the Report of the
Experimental Farms at Ottawa, 1898, Dr. James Fletcher says that it is a
serious pest in Canada ; and in the State of Vermont as much as half the crop
is often destroyed.

In Circular No. 101 of the United States Bureau of Entomology (1908),
A. L. Quaintance gives a very interesting account of this apple pest in the
I "nit eel States, where he compiles all the latest information about its spread
and the damage caused by its ravages.

Description of perfect fly : Length of body, 2J lines ; expanse of wings,
4 lines. The eyes are black, with the antennae, face, forelegs, and the tibia?
and tarsi of the hind legs ochreous. The thorax is black, with white markings
on the sides of the prothorax, beneath the wings, and the scutellum white ;
the centre of the thorax clothed with grey pubescence ; the head and thorax
covered with stout, scattered bristles ; the thighs and base of tibiae of the
fore and hind pair of legs black. The hyaline wings are deeply handed
with oblique transverse bands of black ; the black abdomen covered with
fine hairs, which form grey bands along the apical margin of each segment.

Sydney : William Applegate Oullick, Government Printer.— 1909.

DESCRIPTION OF PLATES OF WINGS OF FRUIT FLIES,
AND OTHER DETAILS.

PLATE I.

Fig. 1. Dacus tryoni, Froggatt, Queensland. .

Fig. 2. ,, olcrt>, Rossi, Southern Europe.

Fig. 3. ,, xantltodes, Brown, Fiji.

Fig. 4. ,, French}, n.sp., New Caledonia.

PLATE II.

Fig. 5. Dacus prrxkfp, Bigot, India.

Fig. 6. ,, cucnrbitfp, Coq., India.

Fig. 7. ,, cucurbits, Coq., Hawaii.

Fig. 8. ,, ferrngineiis, Fab., India.

PLATE III.

Fig. 9. Dacus immaculafa, Coq., S. Africa.
Fig. 10. ,, £oMft*AftM|p, Coq , S. Africa.
Fig. 11. ,, rf>0Mre//x,Voq., N. S. Wales..

Fig. 12. Trypeta I it-lens, Loew., Mexico.

PLATE IV.

Fig. 13. Dacus ornatissimus, n.sp. , Fiji.

Fig. 14. Showing markings on thorax and abdomen

Fig. 15. Dacus curvipennis, n.sp., New Caledonia.

Fig. 16. Showing markings on thorax and abdomen.

PLATE V.

Fig. 17. Cerattti* striata, n.sp., Ceylon.
Fig. 18. ,, capitaj.a, Wied., Australia.

Fig. 19. ,, rubivora, Coq., S. Africa.

PLATE VI.

Life History of the Queensland Fruit Fly, Dacus tryoni, Froggatt.

Fig. 1. Perfect fly viewed from above.

Fig. la. Natural size.

Fig. 3. Larva magnified 5 times.

Fig. 4. Pupa, magnified 7 times.

Fig. 5. Mouth hooks of larva (much enlarged).

Fig. 6. Mouth parts (underside).

Fig. 7. Anal segment (magnified).

Fig. 8. Tubercle, under surface of anal segment (magnified).

PLATE VII.

Fig. 1. Trypeta musce, Froggatt (side view).

Fig. 2. „ ,, ,, (dorsal view).

Fig. 3. ,, ,, ,, (natural size).

Fig. la. Dacus psidii, Froggatt (dorsal view).

Fig. 2a. „ „ „ (side view).

*> 3a. „ „ „ (wing),

-big. 4a. ,, „ „ (natural size).

PLATE VIII.

Fig. 1. Rhagoletes (Trypeta} pomonella, Walsh (side view).

Fig. 2. „ }, >f n (dorsal view).

Fig. 3. ,, ,, „ ,, (natural size).

Fig. la. Ceratitis capitata, Wied. (dorsal view).

Fig. 2a. ,, „ male (side view).

Fig. 3a. Wing.

Fig. 4a. Natural size.

PLATEil

FIG. 1.

FIG. 2

FIG. 3.

I

FIG. 4.

PLATE II.

FIG. 5.

Fio. 6.

FIG. 7.

FIG. 8.

PLATE

FIG. 10.

FIG. 11

FIG. 12.

•'

FIG. 13.

FIG. 15.

FIG. 14.

FIG. 16.

PLATE VI.

QUEENSLAND FRUIT- FLY,

I

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