December, '08] JOURNAL .OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 373 



apples, however, had their growth arrested at the point of egg lay- 

 ing, which with the growing of surrounding tissue brought about the 

 formation of small, funnel-shaped pits upon the surface about each 

 egg incision. Upon the 14th of May, while the Ingram apples were 

 still small and covered wdth a fuzzy pubescence, 31 fruits which bore 

 36 unmistakable egg pits from the tarnished plant-bug were care- 

 fully marked upon the trees. These were observed from time to 

 time and development of the egg-pits noted up to the time of the 

 full maturitj^ of the fruit, which was harvested October 6. Although, 

 as stated, the variety did not seem so heavily infested as some 

 of the earlier blooming ones, a count of 2,189 apples picked from nine 

 small trees showed about 3 per cent with w'ell defined cavities upon 

 their surface due to this cause. Some apples bore as many as five egg- 

 pits each. jMeasurements of twenty-one cavities upon apples varying 

 from two to three inches in diameter gave an average distance across 

 the top of the depression of .49 inch, wdth a variation of from .30 to 

 .75 inch. From the surface the sides of the cavity sloped gradually 

 to the bottom, forming an inverted cone-shaped depression with an 

 average depth of .17 inch and a variation of from .08 to .35 inch. 

 Leading inward into the apple from the bottom of the cavity is a 

 greenish, pithy tissue, which extends in a straight line toward the core, 

 sometimes terminating within and sometimes just outside the carpel 

 walls. If the injury has been near the stem or calyx end of the 

 apple the threadlike canal may reach the core above or below the poles 

 of the carpels. This hardened tissue is sometimes of a tubular form, 

 having an average diameter of about .02 inch. It is sometimes open 

 but is for the most part filled with a loose, brown, cellular tissue. It 

 is the outgrowth of the original cavity in which the eggs were laid and 

 in one instance what appeared to be an empty egg-shell was dissected 

 from the base of one of these egg-pits in a matured apple on October 

 31, fully six months from the date of oviposition, the observation af- 

 fording still further and convincing proof of the cause of the in- 

 juries noted. The egg-pits must be considered of some economic im- 

 portance to the fruit grower but they do not seriously affect the 

 keeping quality of the fruit and, except in cases w^hich cause serious 

 distortion of the fruit, does not low^er its grade. 



That injuries in apples due to the oviposition of the tarnished plant- 

 bug may be expected in any portion of the United States where this 

 fruit is grown is probable, since this insect is widely distributed. 

 Such an omnivorous feeder may be expected to be present and ready 

 for oviposition in apples in the spring in almost any quarter. The 

 typical egg-pits of this insect w-ere noted the past season, more or less, 



