LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS: THE LARVA. 59 
At the beginning of this second stage there is a sudden cessation of 
both egg laying and feeding, and during the whole time the beetles 
refrain from puncturing the fruit except in occasional instances. 
The fruit in this stage exudes gum very copiously when punctured. 
(See Pl. VI, fig. 2.) Relatively little growth is made while the pit is 
hardening, but in the few cases in which eggs are laid and hatched 
at this time the larve are killed at an early stage by the flooding of 
their burrows with gum, the fruit failing to fall from the tree. The 
third stage includes the ripening period, when the beetles resume 
oviposition and the larve are able to mature normally. It is at this 
time that all the infestation of ripe fruit occurs, though the number 
of individuals developing is small in comparison with those in the 
young fruit which falls off. 
Another factor in the mortality of larve in drop fruit, as noted by 
Crandall in apples, is the effect of sunshine. According to this 
gentleman, no living larve could be found in fruit exposed to the 
sun for a few hours, whereas fruit taken from under the shade of the 
trees contained a fair proportion of living larve. An interesting 
experiment is quoted, bearing on the matter: 
In one box were placed 200 apples and in another 250, the latter being placed in 
full exposure to the sun, Later examination of soil in the respective boxes gave for 
the former 42 pupe and for the latter 3 only. 
As suggested by Prof. Crandall, this points to the advisability of 
following a method of orchard management which will insure as free 
access of the sun as possible. 
DESERTION OF FRUIT BY UNDERSIZED LARVA. 
On many occasions it has been noted that larve may leave the 
fruit before reaching maturity and burrow below the soil as for 
pupation. This premature abandonment of fruit is perhaps often 
forced by reason of the unfavorable condition of the latter, but in 
many cases this explanation will not suffice. Fruit in an excellent 
condition for feeding purposes has been often thus deserted. An 
unhealthy condition of the larva itself, as from parasitism, might be 
suspected, but rearings of such individuals indicate that this is not 
the case. Larve have at times been observed to leave fruit, as in a 
glass jar without soil, and, in the absence of suitable surroundings for 
pupation, reenter the fruit and there finally pupate. It is doubtful, 
however, if there is any tendency of larve to leave one fruit in search 
of another, and a faulty instinct seems most likely to account for 
this behavior. Larve emerging from peaches and plums collected 
throughout the season (p. 62) at Washington, D. C., in 1908, varied 
in about the following proportion: Large, 45.25 per cent; medium, 
