116 



THE OLIVE 



(Fig. 1 d.) and all shun 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 e), 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 quiet among the leaves and there the female deposits 

 her eggs. 



The larvae of the second generation hatch in the first half of May 

 and assault the floral cluster, penetrating within the blossom and 

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

 this way destroy twenty or more blossoms. In the first half of June 

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

 These live a little more than a month and towards the beginning 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 GENERATION. 



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 weaves 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 which the generation of the following February will have 



