360 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 14 



until the adult has emerged and is able to fly, that the insect can be 

 most easily controlled. At Baltimore the first adults emerged on the 

 19th of May and the last adults noticed were flying on the 2nd of June 

 The maximiun emergence occurred May 26th. 



The eggs are inserted by the female from the underside of new leaves 

 by means of the curved, pointed and needle-like ovipositor which 

 slits the ventral surface. The ovipositor apparently stretches the 

 tissues of the leaf and permits the egg to be forced through as no slit 

 in the leaf surface could be found shortly after the eggs were laid. The 

 time required for the deposition of a single egg varied from three to 

 eight minutes, with an average of five and one-half minutes. In a 

 number of cases females were observed to lay four and five eggs in suc- 

 cession in the same leaf. 



In the box wood hedge at Baltimore, egg laying was first observed 

 on May 20th, with the maxim.imi occuring on the 26th. In the lab- 

 orator\^ 25 adults, 9 males and 16 females, emerging at 10.00 p. m. May 

 26th were placed in a lantern globe cage with fresh leaves. Mating 

 was observed early the next morning and by noon the females had be- 

 gun to lay eggs, and continued until evening. No mating or egg lay- 

 ing was observed after the 27th. The first adult, a male, was dead the 

 the morning of May 27th and the last adult died the evening of May 

 30th. Two hundred and ninety eggs were laid in the leaves, or an aver- 

 age of eighteen for each of the sixteen females. All of the females had 

 eggs remaining in the ovaries when they died. A count of the eggs 

 in the ovaries of newly emerged females gave an average of fifty-four 

 for each adult. 



The egg is white to transparent, oval and averages .27 mm. in length 

 by .16 mm. in diam.eter. The covering is smooth, tough and pliable. 

 The length of the egg stage varied from twelve to eighteen days. 



The larva when first hatched is grub-like, pointed at both ends and 

 remains curled up in the place where it hatches until after the first molt. 

 After the first molt it becomes straight and assumes the shape charac- 

 teristic of the cecidomyid larvae. The larvae grow slowly and by Octo- 

 ber or November they have molted three or four times, are about 1.5 

 mm. in length and are yellowish-green in color. From an examina- 

 tion of the stomach of a large number of larvae and from the structure 

 of the mouth-parts, there is no evidence that they take solid food. In 

 the early instars the food is evidently absorbed through the body and 

 in the later stages the large juicy parenchjona cells are punctured by 

 the breast bone and the juices sucked in through the mouth. 



