358 



FRUIT INSECTS 



Fig. 317. 



low color, while in the female 

 the front half of the abdomen 

 is reddish-orange, and the rest 

 is black. The female is about 

 i inch in length, the male 

 somewhat smaller. The 

 former is provided with a 

 stout, sharp saw-toothed ovi- 

 positor, which when exserted 

 extends at a right angle be- 

 neath the abdomen (Fig. 317). 



The currant-stem girdler gy nigans of this OvipOSitor 

 ovipositing. ,i c i . 



the female punctures a cane 

 a few inches from the tip and inserts the elongate oval, yel- 

 lowish-white egg into the pith (Fig. 318). After the egg is 

 deposited she walks up the shoot for from one half inch to 

 an inch and deftly girdles the cane with her ovipositor. Some- 

 times the girdling is so complete that the tip falls at once, but 

 usually a portion remains uncut and the tip may remain at- 

 tached for some time, especially if the shoot is a large, vigorous 

 one (Fig. 319). This killing of the tip of 

 the cane seems to be necessary for the 

 development of the egg and grub. 



The eggs hatch in about eleven days. 

 The grubs feed almost entirely on the 

 pith, which they tunnel out to a distance 

 of not over six inches, leaving the bur- 

 row packed full of excrement behind 

 them. The borer becomes full-grown 

 about the first of September and cleans 

 out the lower end of its l)urrow for the 

 distance of about three fourths inch and 

 then eats a passageway out to the outer „,^l%^^t7^Z'^'t 

 bark, which soon dies and shrinks over position. Enlarged. 



