32 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 249 



covering under the trees ordinarily furnishes sufficient moisture for normal 

 emergence. 



Adult 



Upon leaving their winter quarters the beetles fly to the trees and mating 

 begins soon afterwards. While the weather is cool, they remain very quiet 

 usually perched in the crotch of a twig or in the roll of unfolding leaves 

 and blossoms. They are rather strong fliers, frequently moving from one 

 tree to another, but are clumsy in "taking off" and landing. When disturbed 

 they play "possum", folding their legs against their body in a most lifeless 

 manner and in this position often fall to the ground where they remain 

 motionless for many minutes. 



Egg Laying 



Eggs are laid only in the fiaiit*, and this activity takes place during both 

 night and day. In performing this operation, the beetle first prepares a 

 tunnel under the skin of the apple almost parallel to the surface and about 

 1/16 of an inch long. Turning around, she drops an egg into this and then 

 pushes it to the end of the tunnel with her beak. Starting near the en- 

 trance to the egg tunnel, she cuts sideways and somewhat obliquely to the 

 core in both directions until a crescent shaped slit about 1/10 of an inch 

 deep is made, leaving the egg in a flap of the fruit as shown in Figure 1. 

 This flap shrivels before the cut is healed and relieves any pressure on the 

 egg. In apples, the majority of the eggs are laid in the side of the fruit, 

 but in plums a large number of the first eggs are frequently placed near 

 the tip. The number of eggs laid is discussed on page 30, and several counts 

 showed that more than 90 per cent of the egg punctures contained eggs. 



Feeding 



Before the fmit is set, small, round or irregular areas may be eaten in 

 petals and at the base of the stamens, but in captivity the majority of the 

 beetles prefer to wait until the fruit is available. In 1927 the average number 

 of feeding punctures by five pairs of beetles was 236.4 per pair, with a 

 maximum of 336 and a minimum of 170. One pair fed on 85 different days, 

 and the average number of days when feeding took place was 63. 



Proportion of Egg to Feeding Punctures 



Due to the greater length of the feeding period the total number of 

 feeding punctures exceeds the number of egg punctures. The insectary records 

 show that feeding punctures constituted 64 per cent of the total punctures 

 in 1926; 78 per cent in 1927; and 83 per cent in 1928. During the oviposition 

 period the egg punctures practically equal the feeding punctures, and on 

 some days exceed them. 



Length of Life of Beetles 



The beetles emerge from their earthen cells in August and September, 

 hibernate, and enter the trees the following spring. Under insectary condi- 

 tions, about one-half of them are usually dead by the first of September, 

 approximately one year after they emerged (See Table 7.) Many of the 

 others live until late October, and in 1928 ten beetles were alive when placed 

 in hibernation on November 20. after surviving several days when the 

 temperature dropped to 20° F. 



* Eggs have been found in black knot cankers on plums. 



