346 



Insect Pests. 



If the weather is propitious they commence to lay their eggs as 

 soon as the females have been fertilised. 



By means of the long egg-tube the female deposits her ova in the 

 blossoms, mainly on the anthers. 



The act of opposition lasts, it seems, a variable period, for Kollar 



(9) says "the female 

 took seven and a half 

 minutes laying her 

 eggs." Some I have 

 observed took over 



A-' 



2-23. KXLAKGEH KKUTLKTS (A) ATTACKED BY MIDGE. 



(One-half natural size.) 



twenty minutes. The 

 number of eggs varies ; 

 sometimes as many as 

 thirty may be laid, at 

 others, only ten or 

 twelve. They are laid 

 usually in a group in 

 the blossom, and as 

 several groups may be 

 found it appears that 

 more than one female 

 may attack a blossom, 

 which is evident when 

 we find as many as 



100 larvjo in one fruitlet. The female appears to actually pierce 



not only the petals but even the calyx with her long ovipositor. 



Besides laying them in unopened blossoms, I have frequently seen 



them on the opened blossoms, a fact which T 



notified Miss Ormerod, and which she re- 

 corded (10). The ova are white, longish, 



pointed at one end and semi-transparent. They 



hatch in from four to six days. By the end 



of ten days maggots may be found on careful 



examination, but they seem to grow very 



slowly at first. By the first week in June 



great numbers of the maggots may reach 



maturity and commence to leave the decay- 

 ing fruitlets, the majority have left by the 



second or third week. Some are unable to 



escape, as the pears do not always crack. 



unless there has been some rain, and thus remain on the trees longer. 

 The maggots when mature are about \ inch long ; in colour they 



FIG. -229. 

 .AI1V.K OF PEAK 3IIHGK. 



(Natural size.) 



