AMEEICAN" PLUM BOEEE. 



9 



condition of the moths in confinement is of course quite unnatural. 

 The greatest number of eggs laid by one female was 74. In one 

 instance only 24 eggs were deposited in a cage containing 2 females 

 and the minimum is stated as 12, although it is of course possible that 

 only one female was ovipositing. 



Girault, May 8, 1905, gives a record of three adults, emerging in the 

 inscctary at Washington, that deposited 78 eggs, an average of 26 

 eggs each. No observations were made in the field that would throw 

 any fight on this part of the insect's life cycle. 



LENGTH OF LIFE OF MOTHS OF SPRING BROOD. 



The length of life of 1 7 adults is given in Table V. 



Table V. — Length of life of moths of the spring brood of the plum borer, Winchester, Va., 



1913. 



No. of 



Length 



No. of 



Length 



moths. 



of life. 



moths. 



of life. 





Days. 





Days. 



1 



3 



2 



11 



1 



4 



1 



12 



2 



6 



2 



13 



1 



7 



2 



15 



1 



8 



1 



18 



1 



9 



1 



23 



1 

 Total . . 



10 















17 



139 





Ma 





23 

 3 



Mh 













A 



8.2 









These moths were supplied with sweetened water. Several cages of 

 moths were given nothing in the way of food or water and several were 

 given water alone. The observations were too limited to justify the 

 drawing of any conclusions as to the influence on longevity of sugar 

 and water compared with water alone, but those given neither, as a 

 rule, lived only a few days after oviposition. 



The moths fed upon sweetened water lived from 3 to 23 days, the 

 average of 17 observations being 8.2 days. No data were obtained 

 upon the relative longevity of the sexes. 



HABITS OF THE MOTHS. 



When resting the moth assumes the characteristic position seen in 

 Plate IT, figure d, the wings tightly folded, the legs pulled in closely 

 and Bet far back under the abdomen. The rigid posture of the body 

 and the blending of the ashy grays and dark browns of the fore- 

 winge produce <<> the human eye at Least a close resemblance to a 

 short twig. Dining the day the moths remain in this posture for 

 hour- at a time, and until the eye has become accustomed to (his 



