THE "CHESTNUT-WORM" AND ITS ENEMIES. 



353 



it is in sight the beetle begins to move 

 it about over the surface of the husk 

 in search of the hole which she lias 

 made. When the opening is found the 

 point of the abdomen is quickly pressed 

 to the entrance and then the ovipositor 

 is extended to its full length and an egg 

 passed down and deposited just at tin- 

 inner lining of the shell of the nut. 

 When the egg is laid the beetle with- 

 draws her ovipositor into her body and 

 crawls away. 



From the small, white egg, (here 

 hatches in about ten days the familiar 

 chestnut-worm. The worm at first is 

 very small but it grows rapidly, for all 

 about it is an abundance of rich food. 

 When full-grown it escapes from the 

 nut through a large, round hole which 

 it eats in the she'll. When it has left 

 the nut it never enters another, but works 

 its way into the ground. There, a few 

 inches below the surface, it hollows out 

 a cell in the earth in which it passes 

 the winter and the spring following. It 

 remains a worm, of the same size and 

 appearance as when it left the nut, until 

 July of the following summer. At that 

 time it changes within its cell to a curi- 

 ous-looking pupa. In the pupa stage 

 it remains for two or three weeks and 

 then within the space of a day trans- 

 forms to a beetle. Soon after this last 



THREE FEMALE WEEVILS ON YOUNG 

 CHESTNUT-BURRS DURING THE EGG- 

 LAYING SEASON. 



change it crawls forth from the ground 

 and flies to the branches of a chestnut- 

 tree and the life-cycle is complete. 



THE MALE WEEVIL. THE SNOUT IS 



ONLY HALF AS LONG AS THAT OF 



THE FEMALE. 



A FEMALE WEEVIL MAKING HER EGG 

 PUNCTURE IN A YOUNG BURR. 



