278 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I915. 



SEASONAL HISTORY AND LIFE HISTORY IN THE BLUEBERRY. 



The egg. The eggs are deposited singly on the outside of the 

 blueberry, usually somewhere around the calyx lobe; they may 

 be found on either side of the sepal or on the floor of the calyx 

 cup. Oviposition takes place while the fruit is still green, for 

 the eggs are deposited during the latter part of June and early 

 July, and the larva is usually at least half grown before the 

 berry in which it is living ripens. 



The larva. As is the case with most of the insects that live 

 in the fruit itself, it does not seem possible to keep one larva 

 under continuous observ-ation, for they cannot stand continuous 

 transferal from one berry to another while young, and a green 

 berry dries up very rapidly after it has been picked. 



There are 4 larval instars, and head measurements are typi- 

 cally .29, .43, .62 and .90. The greatest variation is in the last 

 instar. Measurements were all made under a magnification of 

 20 diameters with a compound microscope by means of a 

 camera lucida. Larvae were preserv'^ed in alcohol as they were 

 found in dissecting the berries with a record of the date of 

 removal and the date of collection. Head measurements were, 

 made of all specimens as obtained and thus their instar deter- 

 mined. A partial summary of these data is given in the follow- 

 ing table. 



Date Instar Date Instar 



1914 1st 2nd 3rd. 4tli 1915 1st 2nd . 3rd 



June 20 I June 22 i 



July 



6 







I 



25 



5 



7 I 



2 



3 



2 



26 



2 



9 



I 



2 



I 



30 



4 



13 



3 



I 



2 



. July 7 



I 



IS 

 20 



2 



4 



3 



12 



I 



23 







3 







28 





3 









I 







I 







3 







I 







14 







I 







Aug. 



From such observations as he has been able to make, the 

 author would infer that 25 days is a fair estimate of the time 

 spent in the berries. The earliest data on which a lar^^a was 



