Apple Insects. 



i67 



ihe male on the stems of the tree) deposits an egg, having first 

 (according to observations too precise to doubt the fact) bored a 

 hole for its reception in the heart of the bud with her rostrum, at 

 the extremity of which the parts of the mouth are placed. The 

 operation of boring the hole, and depositing an ^gg, occupies, 

 according to Schmidberger, three quarters of an hour. The 

 female then repeats the process in an adjoining bud] the entire 

 process of oviposition occupying from eight to twenty days, ac- 

 cording to the weather. It would appear, from an observation 

 of Ratzeburg [Forst-Lisecten, 1837), that cold weather does not 

 prevent the beetles from pursuing their work, as he states that, 

 in the cold season of 1 836, he had never seen more beetles, and 

 fewer apples. The deposition of the eggs does not prevent the 

 growth of the bud ; but, as soon as the egg is hatched, the work 

 of destruction is begun. The young insect produced from this 

 egg is a little white footless maggot {Jig. 95. h, a bud cut open 

 to show the larva enclosed), closely resembling in its shape the 

 maggot of the nut, only rather more slender towards the ex- 

 tremity of the body. The head is dark-coloured, and horny ; but 

 the rest of the body is fleshy; the three segments following the 

 head being fleshy, and the remainder furnished with a row of 

 fleshy tubercles, or warts, along the sides of the body. As the 

 creature is in the midst of its food, where, in fact, there is enough, 

 but not to spare, for its consumption, legs would be useless. 

 Fig. 96. d represents the larva of the natural size ; and d, mag- 

 nified, after Ratzeburg. 



This little creature, " directly it is hatched, begins to de- 

 vour the young and tender stamens; next to these the style is 



9Q 



attacked, and eaten down to the fruit, the upper part of which is 

 quickly consumed : the maggot is then full fed." [Rustiais in 

 Ent. Mag., No. 1.) The injury thus done to the essential parts 

 of the flower prevents the petals from expanding; and these re- 

 main unconsumed, serving as a sort of dome over the enclosed 

 insect(j^^-. 95. 6), which now throws off'a thin pellicle, and becomes 

 an inactive pupa, nearly resembling the beetle in its shape, but 

 with the wings, legs, and rostrum laid along the breast ; the 

 former not yet having attained their full size. The body is termi- 

 nated by a rather long forked appendage {Jig. 96. r, pupa, natural 



H II 2 



