December, '08] JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 371 



spots were first noticed upon apples of the Blue Pearmain variety, 

 which had only within the past two or three days completed the shed- 

 ding of the petals, and upon none of which were the calyces closed. 

 At first the spots w^ere taken as the first evidences of apple scab. A 

 closer inspection suggested the feeding punctures of the plum cur- 

 culio. Examining the spots under a hand lens I discovered to my sur- 

 prise that in the center of the discolored area there was a distinct 

 opening in the skin of the apple and that within this opening and just 

 beneath the surface was an oval, elongate, bottle-shaped egg. At 

 first I did not recognize the egg as any with which I was familiar. 

 The abundance of the tarnished plant bug upon the blossoms of the 

 different orchard trees mentioned suggested their association with 

 the eggs found, which was substantiated a moment later by the cap- 

 ture on these trees of gravid female specimens of Lygus pratensis, 

 from which eggs were dissected. These eggs corresponded perfectly 

 with the ones found deposited within the minute apples. By dissec- 

 tion two females yi<elded fourteen well defined eggs each. To further 

 substantiate the observation a large number of the newly formed ap- 

 ples, containing what appeared to be freshly deposited eggs, were con- 

 fined in a breeding cage in the insectary. Hatching began eight days 

 later, yielding the young of this plant-bug. These were kept alive 

 in the cage until they had entered the second or third instar, in which 

 they demonstrated plainly the characteristic markings upon thorax 

 and body, distinguishing this species from related ones. Besides the 

 apples cut open in examination for eggs and those reserved for breed- 

 ing cages, a considerable number of small apples were picked at ran- 

 dom from two or three Blue Pearmain trees on April 10 and examined 

 in the laboratory with the following results : 



Number of apples examined 110 



Number eggs found 65 



Number feeding punctures 11 



Apples bearing eggs 45 



In this case it will be seen that about 40 per cent of the apples bore 

 egg punctures of this insect. The average number of eggs per apple 

 in infested apples was 1.44. One small apple was found containing 

 four punctures with eggs, four contained three eggs each and nine 

 apples bore tM'o eggs apiece. The eggs measured upon an average 

 .782 mm. in length by .241 mm. in diameter at their widest point. 

 They were smooth and slightly curved, with the end deepest in the 

 tissue bluntly rounded. The end of the egg nearest the surface was 

 truncate and slightly compressed and bore around the margin a white 

 tubular fringe, finely striated. The color was very pale yellow. 



