206 



The Apple- Blossom Weevil. 



does not perforate the flower-buds with her snout for egg 

 deposition, but with a stylet placed in the extreme end of her 

 body like a bee's sting.* M. Petit remarks that by pressing 

 the body. of a female weevil this stylet is protruded, and can 

 be seen with a glass. " It is hard to admit," he adds, " that 

 the insect should execute a complicated manoeuvre obliging 

 it, after having pierced the bud with its snout, to turn round 

 and place the egg in an invisible hole, smaller than the 

 egg." 



A female lays from fifteen to twenty eggs, but places one 

 only in each flower-bud. The process of laying one egg 

 takes about three-quarters of an hour. The egg is yellowish- 

 white and oval. Authorities agree that the period of egg 

 laying in an individual female may be continued for at least 

 a fortnight. The eggs are hatched in from five to nine days, 

 according to the conditions of the temperature. 



The larva, or maggot, is without feet, about four lines long 

 —the third of an inch — when full grown. It is wrinkled, 

 and white at first, gradually becoming of a yellowish hue, 

 having a brown head with two little brown spots on the first 

 segment. It lies in the bud in a curved form, and attacks 

 the stamens and pistils, but rarely touches the ovary. It 

 soon causes the petals to wither, and the flower-bud changes 

 to a rusty hue and decays. 



The larva turns into a pupa, close upon a quarter of an 

 inch , long, yellowish-white, with its long rostrum, or snout, 

 and its feet folded on the under side of its body. It remains 

 in pupal state for about ten days, when it assumes the weevil 

 form and emerges by boring a hole through the petals. 



Most practical entomologists have held that the weevils 

 live during the summer by feeding upon the leaves of apple 

 trees. Dr. Henneguy, from close observation, has come to 

 the conclusion that they do not feed at all, but derive 

 sustentation from a reserve of fat, corps graisseiix^ stored up in 

 their bodies during the pupal state. Towards the end of 

 September the weevils can no longer be seen. They retire 

 for hibernation to the chinks in the bark of apple and pear 



* Giicrre a V AntJioiioiiie^ par P. Zipcy, Professeur a I'Ecole d'Agriculture du 

 Morbihan. Journal d'Agriculture Pratique, 1892, Tome I., No. i. 7 Janvier. 



