58 



which the males were working and touching the leaves of the plant, 

 in order to afford the males access to the bottle without having to fly 

 to it. 



Close watch was kept, but during 11 days not a male was seen to 

 go near the bottle. At the end of that time the females were taken 

 into the laboratory, as was also one of the males from the cage. All 

 were removed from squares and, being placed upon the table, were 

 brought gradually' nearer together. The male jjaid no attention 

 wiiatever to the nearest female until brought within an inch of her. 

 He then went directly to her. The sense of smell appeared to guide 

 his movements. The fact that this male mated readilj^ with both of 

 the females used in the cage shows that the only reason for failure to 

 attract in the cage lay in too great distance separating the sexes. 



These observations are entirely borne out ])y those made in the 

 field. The fact appears to be that the sexes are attracted only when 

 thejr meet either on the stems or upon the squares of a plant. The 

 comparative inactivity of the male has a bearing on this matter. 

 The general conclusion is that instead of seeking widely for the 

 females, the males are content to wait for them to come their wa}". 

 The greater comparative activity of females is shown in the studj' of 

 their food habits. 



In a number of cases that were timed the average duration of the 

 sexual act was verj^ nearly thirty minutes. 



DURATION OF FERTILITY IN ISOLATED FEMALES. 



A number of females which were known to have mated were isolated 

 to determine this point. Although neither limit was exactly deter- 

 mined, the results proved very striking. Several of these females 

 laid over 225 eggs each and nearly all of them proved fertile. Select- 

 ing three cases in which the facts are positively known, it appears that 

 fertility lasted for an average of something over 0(5 days and that 

 during this period these females deposited an average of nearly 200 

 eggs. The maximum limits may possibly be considerably higher than 



these. 



OVIPOSITIOIT. 



AGE OF BEGINNING OVIPOSITION. 



Normal oviposition seems never to take place until after fertiliza- 

 tion has been accomplished, but it usuall}' begins soon after that. 

 Observations upon the age at which the first eggs are deposited can 

 be made more easily and more positively than those upon the age at 

 which fertilization takes place. In a general way, therefore, the 

 observations here given may be considered as also throwing light 

 upon the time of beginning copulation. 



In the breeding of weevils from eggs deposited by hibernated females 

 a number of observations accumulated ui^on this point and another 

 series was made in the fall of 1902. The results of both series are 

 given in Table XIII. 



