392 Annals Entomological Society of America [Vol. V, 
curculio damage in this orchard for the season was placed at 
about four per cent of the crop. In an adjacent orchard of 
130,000 peach trees not jarred, curculio injury was placed at 
forty per cent of the crop.” 
Owing to these facts, the writers considered it worth while 
to devote their leisure time during the past summer to a study 
of some of the general features of this exceedingly interesting 
mode of behavior. The work of Holmes (5, 6, 7) on the water 
scorpion, Ranatra quadri-dentata, and of the Severins (10) on 
Belostoma flumineum and Nepa apiculata make an exhaustive 
study of little significance. The work embodied in this paper 
was done at Clemson College, S. C., during the latter part of 
June and the month of July, and consequently upon forms 
which had emerged at the earliest only a few weeks before. 
Ft Death Feigning Attitudes. 
Be It was found possible to produce the feint by three methods, 
and when one was not successful, the others were employed. 
The one most used is the same as that by which it is evoked in 
the natural environment of the insect—by dropping it from 
some distance in the air. When the insect is allowed to fall to 
the top surface of a table from a height of a few inches, the 
feint seems to be as effectively produced, usually, as when 
dropped through a space of several feet. By pressing the lateral 
surfaces of the abdomen and thorax, at short intervals, either by 
means of the fingers or forceps, the same effect may be secured. 
A third method is that of grasping the insect between the thumb 
and forefinger and blowing a sudden breath upon the ventral 
surface of the abdomen and thorax. 
There are two distinct postures assumed by the insect in 
feigning death. In the first (fig. 1, A), the insect draws the 
thoracic appendages closely against the ventral surface of the 
body. The first pair of legs extend forward and are tightly 
pressed against each side of the proboscis. The second and 
third pairs are closely flexed, and held securely against the 
ventral surface of the thorax and abdomen. In the second 
position, the legs are folded closely together and held somewhat 
perpendicular to the line of the body (fig. 1, B). The tarsi of 
the first two pairs of legs are drawn tightly against the tibie; 
but in the last pair they are held approximately parallel to the 
ventral surface of the thorax. The first position is usually the 
