94 DECIDUOUS FEUIT INSECTS AND INSECTICIDES. 



puddling the surface. Over this was placed a lantern chimney upside 

 down, the top of the chimney just fitting inside the top of the tumbler. 

 A piece of cheesecloth over the open end of the chimney completed 

 the cage. 



About two days after hatching the larva? were transferred to 

 fresh foliage, and thereafter the foliage was changed as often as 

 necessary. Even with this care only a small percentage of the indi- 

 viduals confined were carried through to maturity, and many of the 

 lots were complete failures. However, a great deal of information 

 concerning the life history and habits of the species was obtained. 



LIFE HISTORY. 

 THE ADULT. 



The adult sawflies (see fig. 24, g) are very active little insects. If 

 one is observed on a leaf it will be seen to run back and forth across 

 the leaf on the upper side, apparently peering over the edge, occasion- 

 ally stopping for a moment at one of the nectaries at the base of the 

 leaf and sipping the nectar. This sort of food seems to constitute 

 their diet, as, in addition to visiting the peach-leaf nectaries, they 

 were also observed visiting near-by cotton plants for nectar and honey- 

 dew, and one was seen on Japanese quince. 



The adults first appear in the spring, in the latitude of Tallulah, 

 about the 1st of April and can be found at any time thereafter until 

 cold weather in the fall. Morgan (loc. c it.) observed that the adults 

 appeared most abundantly toward the end of each month, and con- 

 sidered this as an indication of the different broods. This tendency 

 was not noticed at Tallulah. Moreover, eggs and larvae of all sizes 

 could be observed at the same time, and it hardly appears that there 

 would be any such distinctness of broods. During the year there 

 are probably seven generations of the earliest individuals in the lati- 

 tude of Tallulah, but owing to the confusion resulting from the over- 

 lapping of generations, it is impossible to determine the exact number. 

 Six of the seven are summer generations and the seventh is the 

 hibernating generation. Of the latest individuals of each generation 

 there are probably not more than three or four summer broods. 



OTIPOSITIOX, 



The act of oviposition was not observed, but from the position of 

 the egg it would seem that the female inserts the ovipositor in the 

 leaf from the upper side, usually close to the midrib or one of the 

 larger veins, and by moving it about from side to side separates the 

 lower epidermis from the other leaf tissues in a space about one and one- 

 half millimeters in diameter and more or less circular in outline. In 



