FORTIETH ANNUAL REPORT. 169 



etc., but especially in woods adjacent to orchards. The beetles come out 

 of hibernation in the spring at about the blooming period of the peach, 

 feeding at first upon the buds and foliage and later also upon the fruit. 



Occurrence in orcJiards. — The invasion by the beetles of orchards in 

 spring and the effect of their abundance of neighborhood woods have been 

 several times investigated. Much may be done to reduce their number 

 by keeping the orchards and surroundings free from trash. Where prac- 

 ticable, it will be desirable to burn over in early spring woods adjacent 

 to orchards in order to destroy the beetles hibernating there. Jarring 

 records of considerable areas of peach orchards have been made which 

 show the occurrence of the curculio first in large numbers adjacent to 

 woods, terraces, or other favoring places. 



Egg-laying haJ)ifs. — Peaches are less suitable for the egg-laying pur- 

 poses of the curculio than smooth-skinned fruits, such as plums, apples, 

 etc. Observations by Mr. Jenne indicate that the fuzz may be so copious 

 on young peaches as to prevent the puncturing of the skin by the beetle. 

 He observed that eggs were frequently deposited at the bottom of a tubu- 

 lar boring excavated down in the fuzz as far as the skin of the peach, 

 which was usually scraped somewhat, later resulting in a russet spot on 

 the fruit. In older fruit, however, the female is able to place her egg^ 

 under the skin in about the usual manner. In ovipositing, a hole is first 

 excavated through the skin and into the flesh,about as deep as her snout 

 will reach. Turning around, an egg is inserted by means of the ovipositor. 

 Once more turning around, the snout is used to push the egg into the 

 egg cavity and to fill it with bits of surrounding tissue. The next step 

 is to cut the characteristic crescent slit at one side of the egg cavity, 

 the excavation extending back under the egg to prevent its being crushed 

 by the rapid growth of the fruit. Egg and feeding punctures on a newly 

 set plum are shown in figure 8, much enlarged. 



Period of oviposition and mimhcr of eggs laid. — Egg laying begins as 

 soon as the young fruit is of sufficient size and may continue for several 

 months, depending upon the vitality of the individual beetles. Most of 

 the eggs, however, are laid during the first six or eight weeks after egg 

 laying begins. 



At College Park, Md., the greatest number deposited by any one female 

 was 426 and the minimum 62, with an average of 274.56 eggs for the in- 

 dividuals under observation. At Youngstown, N. Y., the maximum is 

 2,o7 and the minimum 72, with an average of 161.75 eggs. At Washing 

 ton, I). C, under laboratory conditions, a single individual deposited 

 557 eggs, which is the highest of all records thus far obtained for this 

 insect; the lowest number deposited was 126 and the average for the 4 

 beetles under observation was 306. At Myrtle, Ga., this range was from 

 154 as a maximum to a minimum of 1, with an average of 76.44 per in- 

 dividual. At Siloam Springs., Ark., the records include an unusually 

 large number of eggs, namely, 4,724, from 29 beetles. These records show 

 a maximum of 388 and a minimum of 4 eggs, with an average for all pairs 

 of 162.97 eggs. At Douglas, Mich., the records show, a range from 2Q1 

 to 25, with an average for the 18 individuals of 78.56 eggs. The final 

 average number of eggs per female for all localities above mentioned is 

 144.85, with a range of from 1 to 557. 



There is a general agreement in that the great majority of the eggs 

 have been placed by the end of eight weeks. Approximately, one-fourth 



