9 



been protected from the sun by the foliage. An intlividual female 

 is capable of producing from 300 to 400 eggs, egg la3'ing continuing 

 throughout her life. About one-half minute is occupied in the act 

 of depositing a single egg, and the characteristic brownish speck left 

 by the ovipositor can, upon close examination, be detected by the un- 

 aided eye, and resembles the brownish rusty spots occurring normally 

 on some varieties. These egg punctures may be best observed, how- 

 ever, with a hand lens, and are then seen to be oblong or circular 

 holes, with the surrounding border brownish and somewhat shrunken. 

 In four or five days, under favorable conditions, the egg hatches and 

 the minute footless maggot begins to feed on the j^ulp of the fruit. 

 Although the larva is without true opposable jaws, it is j^rovided 

 with two hooks on the head above the mouth by which the pulp is 

 rasped loose, the larva drawing into the mouth the juices thus lib- 

 erated. The pulp which is not eaten soon turns browm and renders 

 the burrows through the flesh more readily visible. The larva, in 

 its feeding, channels here and there through the flesh, sometimes 

 burrowing for a distance just under the skin, the brownish trail in 

 light-skinned varieties appearing as a linear bruise. 



The rate of development of the larvte conforms to that of the fruit, 

 and the larvte do not mature until the fruit is ripe. Early appearing 

 flies attack the summer varieties, and those appearing later infest 

 fall and winter sorts. Their development is checked b}' cold, and 

 they are apparentl}' able to exist for a considerable time in a prac- 

 ticalh^ stationary condition until the maturity of the fruit permits of 

 their further growth to maturity. 



Apples at gathering time may show no exterior indications of in- 

 festation, yet when cut open will be found thoroughly burrowed and 

 honeycombed by the larvae ; or the apparently sound mature fruit may 

 be so infested with the small, inconspicuous larvae and eggs that it 

 may be soon destroyed after storing. The work of a single maggot 

 W'ill injure the value of the fruit, though a dozen or more may often 

 be present. Under favorable conditions of temperature and in ripen- 

 ing fruit, the maggots will become full grown in four or five weeks. 

 The larvae mature as the fruit is ripe, and leave this after it has fallen 

 to the ground, as no exit holes haA^e been noticed in fruit on the trees. 

 In deserting the fruit a hole is made through the skin and the larva 

 burrows an inch or less below the surface of the soil, or on sod land 

 probably pupates around the roots of the grass; or sometimes the 

 pupal stage is entered on the surface of the ground under the de- 

 cayed fruit. In fruit in barrels, in storehouses, etc., the larvae 

 pupate on the bottom of the receptacle, and the puparia are often 

 very numerous in such places. The insect remains in the pupal stage 



ICir. lOlJ 



