DESCRIPTION AND SEASONAL HISTORY. 17 



the end of April; at Acicastello in 1910 they appeared during the 

 first part of the second half of April. The maximum birth at Portici 

 in 1909 took place toward the end of the second decade of May and 

 the last adults were hatched near the end of May. At Acicastello 

 the maximum birth took place in the first decade of May and the 

 last were hatched during the second decade of the same month. 



The females do not, however, always confine themselves to alfalfa 

 stems in ovipositing. On April 18, 1911, Mr. T. H. Parks found, eggs 

 of Phytonomus in punctures similar to those made in alfalfa in the 

 stems of the ground plum, Astragalus arietinus. Later Mr. C. N. 

 Ainslie found a number of these eggs in similar punctures, also in the 

 stems of this plant, there being usually six or eight eggs in each 

 puncture. Afterwards Mr. Ainslie found larvae feeding on Astragalus 

 utahensis. 



A few days before, Mr. Parks had also found eggs deposited on the 

 surface of leaves, on bits of trash, on the inside of a split stem of 

 grass, and, in one case, upon the bare ground. 



In a very early spring some of the eggs may 

 be deposited outside of the plant, but evidently 

 this is not usual and occurs mostly when the 

 growing steins of alfalfa are too small or not suffi- 

 ciently numerous to satisfy the requirements of 

 the females in this direction. In preparing for Eggs. Greatly enlarged. 

 egg deposition the female punctures the stem (Author's illustration.) 

 with her beak. The punctured stems and a group of these eggs in 

 place are shown in figure 4. 



The method of oviposition has been described by Mr. Titus. 1 



Observations were made by Mr. C; N. Ainslie in which he found 

 that oviposition seemed to be accomplished by forcing the beak into 

 the fleshy tissues of the stem, sometimes into a hollow stem, in which 

 case the eggs are merely placed in the natural cavity. Where placed 

 in a leaf petiole, as is sometimes the case, the cavity for the eggs 

 must be necessarily eaten out. Generally in these eaten cavities only 

 4 or 5 eggs are placed, while in the hollow stems 15 or 20 seem 

 not uncommon. Once or twice Mr. Ainslie found eggs placed below 

 the enlarged base of the petiole. In this case the eggs were placed 

 in position through a hole made through the base of the petiole 

 and the mass of eggs was well protected by the hairy leaf buds 

 and unfolded leaflets behind the base of the petiole. Once in a 

 while the hole into the stem is eaten arid the beak not merely forced 

 in, in which case the gleam of the yellow eggs can be seen through 

 the tunnel into the stem. When the opening is forced it is left more 

 or less filled with fibers that have been disrupted or forced aside by 

 the beak and the ovipositor. These fibers are often blackened from 



> Bulletin 110, Utah Agr. Coll. Exp. Sta., pp. 38-39, September, 1910. 

 26200°— Bull. 112—12 2 



