238 



FRUIT INSECTS 



is not readily seen, as it is usually hidden by the thick fuzzy 

 coating; of the fruit. Th(\s(» early punc^tures are th(^ cause of most 



Fig. 214. — Section through the Kiu. 

 egg-pit, showing the egg in position, 

 much enlarged. 



Larva of th 

 enhirg<'( 



of the knotty and deformed fruits. The cavity becomes filled 

 with hardened, gritty tissue, growth is st()f)p(Hl at that point, 

 and the scar of the pun(!ture comes to occupy the bottom of 

 a deep depression in th(^ surface of the 

 fruit. 



Th(i femah^ deposits her minute, whitish, 

 oval (^ggs singly in cavities (Fig. 214) in- 

 distinguishable from those excavated for food 

 only. Th(i eggs hatcih in from sc^ven to ten 

 days, and the grub burrows through the 

 flesh, seldom reaching the core. Only a small 

 proportion of the infested quinces fall to the 

 ground, and most of tlu; grubs develo]:) in 

 fruit still hanging on the tree. In about 

 30 days the full-grown, flesh-colored, footless, maggot-like 

 grub (Fig. 215) leaves the fruit and burrows two or three 

 inches into the soil. There it remains in the grub stage, in a 

 small earthen cell until the next spring, when it trans- 



FiG. 21G. — Pupa 

 of the quince curculio 

 (X4). 



