REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST 1904 369 



that over one fourth of the total number of eggs were laid during 

 the last 10 days after oviposition began, and that nearly one half 

 of the entire number (over 900) were deposited within the first 

 three weeks. These figures were strikingly substantiated by a 

 tabulation of the egg deposits of a number of beetles in various 

 cages, showing that 45% of the entire number were deposited 

 within the first two weeks and that 73% were laid during the month 

 of July; in other words, by far the greater number of eggs are depos- 

 ited under normal conditions during the first two weeks after the 

 beetles begin to lay or during the first 3 or 3^ weeks of their exist- 

 ence, and consequently it is important to destroy them as early 

 in this productive period as possible. 



Value of beetle catchers. Our work in 1902 proved that a hand 

 beetle catcher, of which the so called Hough beetle catcher may 

 be taken as a type, could be used to advantage in small vine- 

 yards, though it is a somewhat laborious and slow method of con- 

 trolling the insect. The larger horse machine, made for us and 

 tried for the first time in 1903, demonstrated the practicability 

 of this method of capturing the beetles. Our three catchings 

 with a few minor ones in early July, resulted in taking over 150,000 

 beetles from an experimental area of about five acres, and at the 

 close of the summer we estimated that the number of insects had 

 been reduced about 98%. The work of 1904 has been a continu- 

 ation of that begun in 1902 and further prosecuted last year. We 

 were anxious, among other things, to ascertain if the conclusions 

 of 1903 would be justified by the conditions found in 1904. Sam- 

 ple diggings in the experimental area in the fall of 1903 resulted 

 in obtaining no grubs from three vines, one only from each of 

 three, and two only from two others, indicating that there were 

 very few which had more than 12 or 15 grubs, and that in all 

 probability the number to each vine would hardly exceed 8 or 9. 

 There was a chance that there might be a material difference 

 between conditions in the fall and those of early spring, conse- 

 quently sample diggings for grubs were made in the spring of 

 1904, and they may very justly be compared with what was 

 found in the experimental area we selected in the spring of 1903. 

 Similar diggings over the experimental area in the earlier year, 

 gave from 8 to 50 or more grubs, or as calculated, from 60 to 400 

 or more to a vine, and in one case it was estimated that there were 

 fully 1000 under a single vine. The following table of grubs taken 

 in the Falvay vineyard in 1904, reveals a very striking difference. 



