434 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 4 



The male weevils used were obtained sometimes from the field and 

 sometimes from the breeding cages. 



The squares infested by each series of weevils were kept in separate 

 lots, but all those infested by the weevils of a given series during one 

 day were placed in a common breeding cage. Thus each lot of infested 

 squares represented one day's work of all the weevils of one series. 



In order to equalize as far as possible the humidity surrounding the 

 various lots of squares, small lots were placed in tumblers or even in 

 large tubes with cheese cloth covers, while larger lots were placed in 

 lantern chimneys with a square of cheese cloth over each end. The 

 last were placed on their sides to admit of a free circulation of air about 

 the squares. In spite of these precautions many of the squares dried 

 too rapidly, while others became sodden and decayed badly. The 

 greatest difficulty was experienced with the earliest infested squares 

 of each generation, always small in number, which dried so rapidly 

 that few of them produced adult weevils. 



The methods employed in the more minute studies of the various 

 stages and in obtaining data on other points will be described under 

 the several topics. 



Oviposition 



In depositing an egg within a square, the female weevil first tests the 

 square minutely, running over it excitedly and feeling it with the an- 

 tenna;. Finally selecting a suitable place, usually on the surface of the 

 calyx toward the base of the square, she begins drilling a hole by pull- 

 ing off a little flake of the outer epidermis. Then, with her feet 

 strongly braced and by gnawing and pushing with an augur-like motion, 

 she thrusts her beak into the tender portion of the square. At the 

 bottom of the puncture she makes a small cavity by gnawing, at the 

 same time moving about the hole with the beak as a pivot. With- 

 drawing her beak she turns about with the center of her body as a 

 pivot. This places the tip of her abdomen directly over the puncture, 

 into which she thrusts her ovipositor, depositing a single egg in the 

 chamber at the extreme end of the puncture. As she withdraws her 

 ovipositor she plugs the puncture with a particle of excrement, pressing 

 it down with the tip of her abdomen. ^ 



Sometimes the weevil fails to locate the puncture immediately with 

 her ovipositor. In this event she searches excitedly, moving the tip 

 of the abdomen about, feeling carefully over the surface of the square. 

 In this search, however, she never moves her front feet, evidently 



1 In the progress of the work many egg punctures were observed which were not 

 plugged with excrement. These could, with a lens, be distinguished from the feed- 

 ing punctures by a thin film of moisture closing the puncture just below the surface 

 of the square, and due to the moisture from the ovipositor. 



