Studies of the Development of. Fidia viticida Walsh. 167 



other insects, it would seem that one end of the egg was held 

 in the forceps and, while prevented from slipping backward, 

 by the lips, as described, was deftly pushed under the bark 

 and left there. This last segment of the ovipositor appears 

 too slender to admit of the egg passing down internally to the 

 forceps, though such may be the case, and I am puzzled to know 

 how else the former can be secured by the latter. It realty 

 looks as though the oviduct might end in a loose sack, acces- 

 sible in some way to the retracted forceps, which, grasping 

 the egg, carries it outward to its place of deposit. The eggs, 

 though they adhere quite tenaciously to each other, are less 

 strongly attached to the vine or bark, and I have found them 

 lying on the surface of the ground under the vines, having 

 doubtless been loosened and detached by the swaying of the 

 vine in the winds. 



HABITS OF THE LARVA. 



Some of the habits of the larva have been indicated in the 

 foregoing. When the young larva drops to the ground it runs 

 about quite actively, but I have never observed them attempt- 

 ing to dig downward. If they find a crack or crevice they 

 enter it, and probably some of them reach the roots in this 

 way, but I think it more probable that the larger number go 

 downward at the base of the vine. Still, as the little fellows 

 will live for a week or more without food, it is not strange 

 that many of them should find their way to one of the many 

 fresh succulent fibrous roots that are found near the surface 

 of the ground, though I have seen them die on dropping on 

 the hot sand. However, the fact that a large majority of the 

 worms are found near or directly beneath the point where 

 the large roots leave the trunk, is indicative of the point of 

 entrance of the larger number of the very young worms. It 

 would appear that the very young larva, after it has fed for a 

 short time, on the small fibrous roots, turns its attention to 

 the larger and tougher portions, eating off the bark, as shown 

 in Figs. 5, 6, Plate IX, and following the smaller ones out- 

 ward. Where the larvae are numerous — and as many as 

 sixty-eight have been taken from about a single vine — the 

 injured roots simply rest on a bed of the castings of the 



