THE PEACH AND PLUM SLUG. 97 
the cold weather of April, and represent the result of abnormal 
conditions. , 
Unlike its congener, the pear slug, the larva does not eat its 
exuvium. 
_ The escape from the exuvium is made through an opening at the 
head end, the larva simply crawling out of its old skin and leaving it 
as a narrow line of slime on the surface of the leaf. 
Immediately after molting the larve very freqeuntly wander away 
from the leaf on which they have been feeding to another, sometimes 
2 or 3 feet distant. 
During the first four instars the larva is of a peculiar sluglike 
appearance, swollen in front and covered with the slimy secretion 
which hides the segmentation of its body. The head is pale brown 
and the eye spots darker. The body is translucent and the course 
of the alimentary canal can be traced by the green food within. On 
molting for the fourth time, however, it loses its slimy coating and 
appears as an opaque, yellowish, caterpillar-like larva (fig. 24, d), in 
which the segmentation can be distinctly seen. It is from five- 
sixteenths to three-eighths of an inch in length. 
During the last molt the larva deposits several pellets of excrement 
within the exuvium. 
Tables IL to V show the data obtained on the duration of the 
different larval stages, and Table VI gives the data for the total 
feeding period. . 
TABLE II.—First larval period of the peach and plum slug, Tallulah, La., 1910. 
: Number |_ First 
Lot No. aero pee oe of indi- larval 
8: _ "| viduals. | period. 
Days. 
LIND: nococucadtBat caSesne SESS Basis BABS ste See cette ee i a Aug. 14 | Aug. 15 6 1.0 
EL 55 See OBIE S ES in oe Rl ES a Aug. 16 | Aug. 17 3 1.0 
[ISAs 3 8 0, Sp Oe oe SETS tes ail [pee OG=e eae Aug. 18 3 2.0 
LEB) nc RES Sh 6 Mee aR SS ll An re em Sept. 21 | Sept. 24 2 3.0 
LE sate GA SS Sab ES Cee ee aa ae i er Nee. en Apr. 9 Apr. 11 10 2.0 
Hh = Soe kee SBE RAS sect ree ney ea re an Apr. 13 | Apr. 15 5 2.0 
Tap 1 LES A ag A No geen | Aug. 25 | Aug. 27 4 2.0 
HB se oe seis baa ee SEES See SEs SS eee ee a en eee ear | Sept. 20 | Sept. 24 1 4.0 
| 
sorbet Gea veray Gnome = Bese: coe sae Ses emcee cidnie ana ma tale Salee,cl neces steele 34 1.9 
TaB_eE III.—Second larval period of the peach and plum slug, Tallulah, La., 1910. 
Date of | Date of | Number} Second 
Lot No. first second | of indi- larval 
molt. molt. viduals. | period. 
Days 
