1914] Melon Fly, Dacus cucurbitae. 195 
Fifty of the one hundred larve which fed on the soft, juicy 
pumpkin were weighed at intervals of one day throughout 
their larval life. In order to remove all of the pulp, which 
adhered to the bodies of the maggots, they were carefully 
washed and dried with filter paper before each weighing. The 
following table shows the daily increase in weight of the larve, 
daily increase over the initial weight, and increase or decrease 
of weight over the previous day: 
TABLE VI. 
DAILY INCREASE IN WEIGHT, DAILY INCREASE OVER THE INITIAL WEIGHT AND INCREASE 
OR DECREASE IN WEIGHT OVER THE PREVIOUS DAY IN MILLIGRAMS OF THE 
LARV# OF DACUS CUCURBIT. 











Age of |Wt.50/ Wt.1 Increase in wt. Increase or loss of wt. 
larvee larve | larva of 1 larva over of 1 larva over pre- 
initial wt. vious day 
At hatching.| 2.8] .056 
I Glanve eee 31.8] .636 .58 .58 increase 
2 days....| 101.2) 2.024 1.968 1.388 « 
3 days....| 801.6 |16.032 15.976 14.008 « 
4 days... ./1021.7 |20.434 20.378 4.402 « 
46 days... .|/1004.3 |20.086 20.03 .348 loss 

The daily increase in weight over the initial weight may be 
stated as follows: 
After feeding 1 day a larva weighs 11.3 times its initial 
weight. 
After feeding 2 days a larva weighs 36.1 times its initial 
weight. 
After feeding 3 days a larva weighs 286.2 times its initial 
weight. 
After feeding 4 days a larva weighs 364.8 times its initial 
weight. 
After feeding 414 days a larva weighs 358.6 times its initial 
weight. 
The minimum increase over the initial weight occurred dur- 
ing the first day of the larval life and the maximum increase 
took place during the third day. 
The daily increase or decrease in weight over the previous 
day may be put as follows: 
The first day a larva acquires 10.3 times the weight at hatch- 
ing. 
