SEASONAL HISTORY. 57 



described is especially favorable for obtaining a firm and even hold 

 and this may have something to do with the regularity with which 

 it is assumed. Having selected her location, the female takes a firm 

 hold upon the sides of the square and completes her puncture while 

 in this position. 



The female begins drilling a hole by removing with the mandibles a 

 little flake of the outer epidermis. Then, with lier feet strongly braced 

 by gnawing and pushing with an auger-like motion, she thrusts her 

 beak into the tender portion of the square. At the bottom of the 

 puncture she makes a small cavity by gnawing, at the same time 

 moving about the hole with the beak as a pivot. Withdrawing her 

 beak, she turns about with the center of her body as a pivot. This 

 places the tip of her abdomen directly over the puncture, into which 

 she thrusts her ovipositor. The ovipositor is protruded to the bot- 

 tom of the cavity in which it appears to be firmly held in position by 

 the two terminal papillae and the enlarged terminal portion. Slight 

 contractions of the abdomen occur while this insertion is being made. 

 In a few moments much stronger contractions may be seen, and often 

 a firmer hold is taken with the hind legs as the egg is passed from the 

 body, and its movement may be seen as it is forced along within the 

 ovipositor and down into the puncture. Only a few seconds are 

 required to complete the deposition after the egg enters the opening 

 to the cavity. Having placed the egg, the ovipositor is withdrawn, 

 and just as the tip of it leaves the cavity a quantity of mucilaginous 

 material, usually mixed with some solid excrement, is forced into the 

 opening and smeared around by means of the tip of the abdomen. 

 This seals the egg puncture, and the act of oviposition becomes 

 complete. Sometimes the weevil fails to locate the puncture imme- 

 diately with her ovipositor. In this event she searches excitedly, 

 moving the tip of the abdomen about feeling carefully over the sur- 

 face of the square. In this search, however, she never moves her 

 front feet, apparently using the position of these as a guide to the 

 distance through which she should search. Failing to locate the 

 puncture in this way she again turns around and searches for it with 

 her beak and antennas. When the cavity has been found again the 

 female invariably enlarges it before turning again to insert the ovi- 

 positor. If the search with the antennae does not prove successful, 

 the female generally makes another puncture in the same manner as 

 at first. 



The usual habit of the female in puncturing through the calyx 

 enables it to seal the wound more thoroughly because of the healing 

 power possessed by the calyx tissue. Punctures made in the corolla 

 must remain open or are closed only by the slight filling of mucilagi- 

 nous excrement by the weevil. Punctures through the calyx will, in 

 most cases, be healed by the natural outgrowth of the tissue so as 

 completely to fill the wounds in a manner analogous to the healing 

 of wounds in the bark of a tree. The custom of the weevil in sealing 

 up its egg punctures with a mixture of mucous substance and excre- 

 ment is of great advantage and assistance to the plant in the healing 

 process. While undoubtedly applied primarily as a protection to the 

 egg, it serves to keep the punctured tissues from drying and decay, 

 and thus promotes the process of repair. As a result of the growth 

 thus stimulated in the calyx, the wound is healed perfectly in a short 



