116 THE OLIVE 



(Fig. 1 cL) and all sliiiii the direct action of the sun. At the end 

 of twenty-five or thirty days (about the last of March) the larva 

 commences its transformation into the pupa, weaving on the same 

 leaf (Fig. 1 <^), a cocoon which takes about twenty-four hours. 

 In another twenty-four hours the last change takes place, and they 

 acquire the semblance of the pupa (Fig. 9, 9 a, 9 b.) They remain 

 in a lethargic state for twelve or fourteen days, when the moth ap- 

 pears, which is about the first of April. The moths live a month 

 or more, and from the middle to the last of April they flutter about 

 the olive in the evening when the sun is gone. During the day 

 they remain qniet among the leaves and there the female deposits 

 her eggs. 



The larvse of the second oeneration hatch in the first half of Mav 

 and assault the floral cluster, penetrating within the blossom and 

 consuming the pistil and gemmules (Fig. 2 a a). One larva can in 



this Wciv destrov twentv or more blossoms. In the first half of June 



*j \j %j 



they change into pupoe and in seven or eight days after into moths. 

 These live a little more than a month and towards the beo'innino; of 

 July the female deposits her eggs one by one, piercing the calix of 

 the berry. It is seldom that two eggs are deposited in one berry. 



THIRD GEXERATIOX. 



The eggs which have been deposited in the olive hatch in about 

 ten days, and the larvae penetrate into the seed of the berry and con- 

 sume first the skin about the kernel, and eventually the whole al- 

 mond. (Fig. 5, e, d.) When they have attained their full develop- 

 ment they issue from the fruit by boring a hole in the softer part of 

 the seed near the stem, which being thus weakened causes the olive 

 to fall from the tree. 



The larva w^eaves its cocoon at once, on either fruit, stem or leaves. 

 In eight or ten days, that is, from. the last of September to the 

 middle of October, the moth of this third generation will appear, 

 from wdiich the generation of the following Februarv will have 



