GRAPE INSECTS 



439 



inch in length and the male a little smaller. The flies emerge 

 from the ground in the latter part of May just as some of 

 the blossom buds of such early varieties as Moore, Early 

 and Worden begin to show a small opening at fhe tip caused 

 by a spreading of the petals. The female deposits her minute, 

 grayish, elongate, slightly curved eggs in the interior of 

 the bud by means 

 of an extensile fleshy 

 ovipositor inserted 

 through this open- 

 ing in the apex of 

 the bud. From a 

 few to seventy mag- 

 gots may be found 

 in a single bud, but 

 twenty-five is about 

 the average in a 

 year of heavy infes- 

 tation. The infested 

 buds contain a 

 watery fluid in 

 which the maggots 

 live. Such buds 

 become greatly 

 swollen, often three 

 times as large as 

 normal, and turn yellowish, becoming dark reddish, particularly 

 toward the tip. When full-grown the maggot is about -^ inch 

 in length and of a yellowish or orange color. They usually 

 escape by the opening at the apex, fall to the ground, where at 

 a depth of about 6 inches they pass the winter as larvae, curled 

 up in small, ovoid, silken lined, earthen cocoons about -^^ inch 

 in length. Pupation takes place the last of April and the 

 adults emerge about a month later. 



Fig. 380. — The grape-blossom midge, female ( X 22). 



