Mellasa (in English, molasses) ... ..	. ... 40
Miele (honey) ... ... ... ..	. ... 40
Arsenate of potassi... ... ... ..	. ... 2
Aqua (water) ... ... ... ..	. ... 18

PLATE I.

The Queensland Fruit Fly,

(PI. I and PI. IV, fig. 1.)

Dacus Tryoni, Froggatt.

(Tephrites Tryoni, Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales, June, 189/, p. 410, pi. VIII, fig. 1. Miscellaneous publications, No. 163, 1897, Dep. Agriculture N.S.W. (reprint). Ayr. Gaz. N. S. W., June, 1899, Reprint Mise. 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 Tryon published his admirable 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 Tephritis, 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 fruit-fly 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 great 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 pupm, 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.

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 tranverse 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 coloi’ation they are somewhat variable, but on careful examination the yellow markings will be found constant ; but this has led to some confusion in determining the species, when they have been bred from uncommon fruits or vegetables. Head : The eyes almost black ; face, with l’ounded black spot on either side below the antennie ; tips of antennre fuscous, and a few indistinct spots or marks on the forehead ; thorax, with a broad creamy often pale dorsal band, running down to the scutellum, 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 pares of the same colour in a line with the front of the parallel side stripe; the scutellum, white to pale yellow, is prominent, somewhat 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 antennse 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. Trgoni 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 ellow 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 dowji 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 x’ange.

The Mango Fruit Fly.

(PI. V, fig. 8.)

Dacus ferrugineus, Fabricius.

(Ent. Syst. IV, 342, 127 ; Fab. Syst. Anti., 274-5; Wiedemann, Aussereuropaische Zweiflügelige Insecten, 1828-30, Vol. II, p. 515 ; Macquart, Dipteres Exotiques, nouveaux ou peu connus, 1838, Supp., 3, 64, and 4, 2.)

Doleschall described this species under two different names ; first as Bactrocera macuhpennis, in the Natuurk Tijdschr van Nederl, Indie, vol. X, 1856, p. 36, and figured it on plate 1. In the same journal, two years later, he described a variety under the name of Bactrocera conformis. Van der Wulp notices this in the Annales de la Société Entom. de Belgique, in 1884, in a paper entitled “ Quelques Diptires Exotiques.”

In “ Indian Museum Notes,” vol. III, 1896, in a contribution called “Miscellaneous 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 citronella 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 reddish fly, which agrees with Bigot’s description of Dacus persicce.

Dacus ferrugineus 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 has figured this fly in his “ Important Insects injurious to Indian Agriculture” (page 227, vol. I, No. 2, 1907).

The Peach Fruit Fly.

(PI. V, fig. 5.)

Dacus persicce, Bigot.

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

Cotes, l.c., p. 195.)

“The fly here described certainly belongs to the family Ortalidae, by the neuration of the wings. It seems to me 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 Dacus of Fabricius (Macquart, Dipt, de Europe et exotique).

^u The specimens examined and were 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.

“ Antennm dull yellow, with tiie 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 ; shoulders, two narrow lateral lines, pale yellow; scutellum greyish-yellow. Abdomen reddish, with a narrow dorsal line, black, indistinct anteriorly; ovipositor depressed, angular at the extremity, yellowish, the rest of a light yellow to dark brown ; legs yellow ; the posterior tibia brownish at the base and extremities; tarsi white ; wings hyaline, the longitudinal nervures clouded with yellow at the base j 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 Ptondani).”

The above is a translation of Bigot’s description of the fruit-fly which 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 gave it the specific name persicce.

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 during the cold weather, and thoroughly baking the same, which must kill all there is in the soil of insect life. I would further recommend the instant removal of all pierced fruits which fall to the ground, and the burning of the same, 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. Howlett I obtained many specimens of this species on the wing among the melon patches at Pusa, near the Imperial Research Laboratories ; and this was one of the two species 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 peach in the orchard was infested and thousands of fine fruit were lying under the trees, full of maggots.

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 diversus, Coquillet.

(Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, Yol. YI, 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 vittre 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 vittse, 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. Howlett and I collected at Pusa flying about the melon patches, and again at Bangalore in several mango plantations ; 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 ferrugineus 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. V, 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 Hawaian Forestry and Agriculturist (April, 1906, vol. Ill, 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 55 miles from Honolulu, where, at Holt’s ranch, I obtained many specimens. I he 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 ^c88> ^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 consequence 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 serai-dry pith and maggots, ready to work through the skin and pupate in the ground beneath. Some we found nearly 2 inches 48531 b 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 and, quarters, and a mule to cultivate, the men doing all (he field work, lwhile he attends to the shipping and sale of the produce.

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 larvae under observation in the Entomological Branch of the United States Experimental Station.

Melon Fly in India and Ceylon.—One of the first species of fruit-fly that I found in India "was JDacus cucuibitce, and wherever we examined melon gardens in Central or North-Westei n 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 Coquillet 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 pupce.

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 hypopleui*a, light yellow ; scutellum, except its extreme 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 fourth 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 submarginal 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. Ilalteres light yellow. Legs light yellow, the broad apices of the femora and the last four joints of the tarsi reddish-yellow; hind tibia; reddish-yellow or dark brown. Length, 6 to 8 mm. Type, No. 4,207 in the United States National Museum.

The South Sea Guava Fly. *

(PI. Ill, figs, la, 2a, 3a.)

Dacus psidii, Froggatt.

(Tephritis psidii, Froggatt, Agricultural Gazette, N.S.W., 1899, p. 501, PI. II, figs, la, 2a, 3a. Miscellaneous Publications, Dep. Agr. N.S.W., 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 granadiilas «.hat 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 3 lines in length and about 5 across the expanded wines.

The head light brown, with rich metallic purple eyes antenna; 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 ornamenting the hind margin ; legs brownish yellow, clothed with fine hairs, tarsal spines and claws black ; the wings hyaline, very slightly clouded at the tips j nervurts 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 j the abdomen black, elongate, narrow at base, pointed to extremity ; the genitalia 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 Zweiflügelige Insecten, Yol. 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 Verrall’s 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.

Dacus Lonnsbitryii, Coquillet.

(PI. VI, fig. 10.)

(“Proceedings U.S. National Museum,” Yol. XXIY, No. 1,243, p. 27, 1901.)

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 Lounsburyii.—^u 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 ; antennse 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 vittre, a yellow fascia extends along the suture, crosses the mesopleura and encroaches on the sternopleura; a spot on the hypopleura, hind margins of thescutellum and of the second abdominal segment laterally 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 ; wings 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 sometimes 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 Australian species Dacus esqualis, described by Coquillet in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, and Dacus longicornis, Wied., from India and Java.

All of these have long antennse, are of a general ferruginous tint with few yellow markings, 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,” Yol. XXIV, No. 1,213, 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 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 markings ; 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 femora and bases of middle tibise yellowish-brown, hind tibiae largely, and last four joints of all the tarsi reddish-brown; tibiae 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 nnn. Described from two male and four female specimens. Type, U.S. National Museum, Washington (No. 5,787). Bathurst, Cape Colony, South Africa.

Dacus immaculcitus, 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 submarginal, 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 down on either side, forming an irregular oval black patch merging into the bar.

Dacus sigmoïdes, Coquillet.

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

1906.)

“ 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 the femora, bases of the tibiæ and last four joints of the tarsi slightly darker, more brownish-yellow, knob of halteres 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. 5,788.

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 the 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 wasplike 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 pleurrn just behind the wings; the scutellum 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 tibiie 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, paF, backwardly-projecting bristledike 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-fl}".

The Olive Fly.

(PI. IV, fig. 2.)

Dacus olece, Rossi.

(Fauna Etrusca, 11, 317, 1538, 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 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 1 895-99. As a large reward has been offered by the Government for any effective remedy or cure for this pest, all the entomologists have been studying the olive-fly, and carrying out experiments towards its eradication. 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.

The olive-fly is one of the smallest sp»ecies, not more than 2^ 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 antennre, 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 scutellum 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 ^Ci 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 desciiption 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 statement that the maggot first feeds upon the young leaves of the olive tree is incorrect.

Broun’s Fruit Fly.

(PI. IV, 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 Raratonga, Fiji.

He says : “ It differs from Trypeta psidxi 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 clothing and sculpture, less broadly oviform or wasp-like hind body and stout antennal setse. 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, 4^ lines ; expanse of wings, 7j| 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 arcuate 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. VI, fig. 11.)

Dacus cequalis, Coquillet.

(Proceedings of the Linnean 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. ; a second specimen I presented to the Entomological Collections of the Imperial Research Laboratories at Pusa, India; and another co-type is in the departmental collections in Sydney. It comes close to Dacus Lounsburyi, Coq., from South Africa, and Dacus longicornis, Wied., from India and Java.

Dacus cequalis, Coquillet.—“Near longicornis, 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. Antennie 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 ovipositor), 8 to 9 mm.

Dacus Frenchi, n.sp.

(PI. IY, 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 battds (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.

Dacus ornatissimua, n.sp.

(PI. YIJ, figs. 13 and 14.)

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-detined 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.

(PI. VII, figs. 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 downward 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, antennae fuscous at the tips, bristles black, 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; legs yellow, thighs of hind legs and tarsi darker; abdomen elongate, with the base and two narrow transverse black bands below, the second broadest on the sides ; sheath and ovipositor elongated.

Habitat—Fiji. Bred in Sydney from larvae taken from bananas in shipments of fruit from Suva. Several specimens of both sexes. Type in Agricultural Department’s collection, New South Wales.

Dacus basil is, Walker.

(List of Diptera, British Museum, Part III, 1849, p. 1072.)

“ Body bluish-green, head tawny, black beneath and on the crown ; a white stripe along each eye; face white, its sides without bristles; epistoma prominent; eyes pitchy; fore parts flat, the facets much larger than those elsewhere; sucker black, clothed with tawny hairs; palpi tawny, rather large, beset with black bristles ; feelers ferruginous, full as long as the face, third joint linear, slender, pitchy towards the hip, 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 lougistylus, Wiedemann.

(Auss. Zweifl., Vol. II, p. 522, PI. 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, 3| lines. Habitat—Egypt,

There are a number of specimens determined by Loew in the K. K. Hofmuseum 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 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 [Baclrocera

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 Hofmuseum at Vienna, but Dr. Handlirsch informed me that the locality might not be exact, as Thorey was a dealer, and the specimens had probably been bought from him. They appear to be very clcse to the typical specimen, and are labelled by Loew (who determined many of the Diptera in this museum) Dasyneura 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 head, forking into a bar on either side, with 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 the yellow markings on the front and sides of thorax and scutellum are brighter yellow.

Habitat—Amboina.

Dacus puuctatifrons, Karsch.

(Entomologische Nachrichten, Yol. 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 side; 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. Anti. 276, 16, 1805 ; Wiedemann, Auss. Zweifl., 11, 518, 8, 1828-30 ;

Walker, List Diptera, British Museum, IY, 1073, 1848-55.)

This species is described from Java. There is a specimen in Mr. Yerrail’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 fine 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, 54 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. stylati; head yello-w; front of face spotted with black ; thorax greyish ; nude patches on shoulders, lateral lines, and hind margin of the scutellum yellow; abdomen oval, yellovq 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.

Dacus fascipennis, Wiedemann.

(Zoologisches Magazin, Yol. Ill, 28, 42, 1817-23; Auss. Zweifl., Vol. 11,519, 9, 1828-30 : Van de Wulp, Tijdschr v., Entom. XXIII, 181, 42, PI. XI, fig. 4, 1880; Bactrocera fasciatipennis, Doleschall, Natuurk Tijdschr, van Nederl. Indie, X, 1856, 412, 56, PI. Ill, fig. 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: “Fu-cous marked with yellow, costal portion of the wings dusky with three honeycomb-like blotches at the end.” Length: Male, 3 £ 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 Vrauevfeldi, Schiner.

(Reise Novara Zoology Diptera, 1868, p. 262.)

“ Dorsal surface of thorax blackish-brown, with three broad, grey, longitudinal 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 interrupted 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 ; antennae 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 tibiae, 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. ’

Dacus africanus, Adams.

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

pp. 149-208.)

This is a species of fruit-Hy described in the above publication by C. F. Adams, in a paper entitled “ Diptera Africana, 1.” The specimens were collected by Mr. F. L. Snow, near Salisbuty, 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 ; antenme 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 sternopleurse, traversing the mesopleune and along transverse suture to near middle of mesonotum, a spot on metaplune, 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 mesopleune, the sternopleurse largely, two spots on metanotum and metapleura largely blackish ; three small black bristles bet ween 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 laterally⁷ along posterior margin, with a short row of black bristles; venter yellowish. Legs light yellow; coxae blackish at base; femora on apical fourth, tibiae wholly, the tarsi apieally⁷, 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 ; auxiliary⁷ cell rudimentary ; tips of third and fourth veins nearly straight; small cross-vein inclined forward. Length, 7 mm.” One specimen collected in June.

48531 c

List of Walker’s species.

These species of the genus Dclcus were described by him, from specimens collected by A. R. Wallace in the Malay Archipelago, in a series of papers entitled “ Catalogue of Dipterous Insects,” &c., 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 Proc. Linn. Society of the years mentioned.

1.    Dacus absolotus. Vo]. VI, 1862, p. 22. Ceram.

2.    ,, addens. Vol. IV, 1860, p. 149. Macassar.    ■

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

4.    ,,    biarcuatus. 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.    ,,    covformis. Vol. I, 1857, p. 34. Singapore, Celebes.

10.    ,,    detrudens. Vol. VIII, 1865, p. 135. Salawatti.

11.    „    devius. Vol. V, 1861, p. 250. Batjan.

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. Gilolo.

18.    ,,    expandens. Vol. Ill, 1859, p. 114. Aroe.

19.    ,,    figuratus. Vol. I, 185.7, p. 133. Borneo.

20.    ,,    fulvitarsis. Vol. I\^r, 1860, p. 153. Macassar.

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

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

23.    „    imitans.    Vol.    IV,    1860,    p.    152.    Celebes.

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

25.    ,,    inscriptis. Vol. V, 1861, p. 162. Amboina.

26.    ,,    instablis. Vol. V^, 1861, p. 250. New Guinea.

27.    ,,    latifcicia. Vol. Ill, 1859, p. 114. Aroe.

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

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

30.    „ lativentris. Vol. Ill, 1859, p. 115. Aroe.    *

31.    „    longivitta. Vol. Ill, 1859, p. 115. Amboina, Aroe.

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. Ill, 1859, p. 114. Aroe, Batjan, Waigoe.

37.    Dacus repletus.    Vol. V, 1861, p. 296. Batjan, Kaisaa.

38.    „    pubiseta.    Vol. V, 1861, p. 291. Mysol, Batjan.

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

40.    ,,    sepedonoides. Vol. VII, 1864, p.    228. AVaigoe.

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

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

43.    ,,    strigifinis.    Vol. V, 1861, p. 295.    Batjan.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The following names are attached to specimens of Dacns 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 :—

(Macleay, Zoological Journal, XVII, 1829 ; Trypeta, Wied. ; Pefalophora, Macq. ; Halferopbora, 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.

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

Rondani, in his Podromus Dipterologicæ Italicæ (1856-77), placed the members of this genus in a new genus he created, and which he called Halterophora because the name Ceratitis was preoccupied. This was followed