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trees before the middle of September and have not found eggs 

 nor oviposition in progress before September 24th. 



In the locality where these observations were made, the ear- 

 lier chestnut trees begin to open their burs about September 25th 

 and it has been on these trees that I have always found the bee- 

 tles first engaged in oviposition. 



When the four lobes which compose the spiny envelope, or 

 bur, of the chestnut begin to separate, preparatory to turning 

 back to release the ripe nuts, the first effect is a deep groove in 

 the husk along the line where the lobes unite. In grooves of this 

 kind, where the spines are out of the way and where the husk is 

 thin, the beetles collect first to drill their holes into the nuts for 

 the purpose of depositing their eggs. Later, when the burs are 

 open, they get at the kernel, in which their eggs are deposited, by 

 perforating only the brown shell of the nut. 



The female, in ovipositing, first pierces the kernel of the nut 

 almost or quite to the center and then turns 

 around and inserts an egg to the bottom of 

 the opening with her ovipositor. This done, 

 she again 'turns and uses her beak to make a 

 branch gallery within the kernel leading off 

 from the first opening. This branch receives 

 an egg, like the other, and the operation con- 

 tinues until from a single, minute opening in 

 the shell a dozen branches may extend into the 

 nut each containing an egg. In one case I found thirteen eggs 

 in a set but the customary number is from five to eight. 



In order to ascertain whether the egg is pushed into place 

 with the beak, as has been claimed often, I removed females sev- 

 eral times just after they had laid their first egg and before they 

 had time to reinsert their beak into the opening. In every case 

 I found the egg in its permanent position at the bottom of the 

 gallery showing that after the nut is pierced the ovipositor alone 

 is used in placing the egg. 



The egg is similar to that of the larger chestnut weevil ex- 

 cept that it is smaller and slightly more elongate. The shape is 

 oval-oblong and the color shining, pellucid white. 



