THE GRANARY WEEVIL 21 
days between June 23 and September 25, when she died, although 
the temperature means for this period ranged from 68° to 88° F. 
and averaged well above 70° F. This female, winch be^an oviposit- 
ing on January 28, was therefore nearing the end of her life: still 
she deposited but one egg on each of 120 oviposition days, two eggs 
on each of 31 oviposition days, and three eggs on each of 5 oviposition 
days. 
In the absence of definite data on the normal larval mortality, 
it is believed to be rather high, and this is thought by the writers 
to account for the somewhat higher daily rate of oviposition recorded 
in Table 3 as compared with the conclusion of Strachov-Koltchin (65). 
DURATION OF OVIPOSITION 
The duration of the oviposition period is influenced by several 
factors and varies considerably. (See Tables 2 and 3.) Those 
adults that emerge late in the season and commence egg laying in 
the fall have a long oviposition period. They cease ovipositing on 
the approach of cold weather and commence again in the spring. 
during February or March. Thus weevil Xo. 3, of Table 3, emerging 
on September 5, began ovipositing September 15, and oviposited 
almost daily until September 28, when she ceased laying until March 
10, only to resume egg laying and to continue it almost daily until 
June 1, ceasing entirely on June 12. This record of duration of 
oviposition of 270 davs is second onlv to that of 287 days, August 27. 
1920, to June 10, 1921, bv a female depositing 25-1 eggs. (Xo. 8, 
Table 2.) 
Adults emerging in the spring have a shorter oviposition period, 
because they deposit all their eggs during a single season. The 
shortest oviposition period recorded in Table 3 is 67 davs, Weevil 
Xo. 9, March 19 to May 25, 1922. Weevil Xo. 11 of Table 3. 
depositing a total of 197 eggs, emerged on October 25, 1921, but did 
not begin ovipositing until January 28, 1922, after which she laid 
eggs with considerable regularity until September 24, 1922, thus 
having an oviposition period of "239 days. Weevil No. 8, with an 
egg-laying capacity of 242, emerged X'ovember 7, 1921, began ovi- 
positing February 18, 1922, and continued until August 6, 1922, an 
oviposition period of 169 days. 
The average length of the oviposition period for adults emerging 
during the spring and early summer is between three and four months. 
NUMBER OF EGGS DEPOSITED BY SINGLE FEMALES 
The data of Strachov-Koltchin, which are the only data previously 
published on the egg-laying capacity of the granary weevil, were 
obtained with promiscuouslv captured females. From 11 females 
he secured 65, 78, 87, 107, ll6, 121, 129, 135, 149, 153, and 167 eggs 
respectively. But he concluded that "since the females used were 
in most cases not young, it is possible to assume that a normal num- 
ber of eggs deposited by a single female during her life is 135 to ir>7." 
The 24 females of known ages, the oviposition records of which are 
given in Table 3, deposited totals of 36, 65, 71, 74, 78, 95, 98, L08, 
114, 126, 128, 130, 130, 135, 145, 166, 177, 181, 184, L97, 200, 210, 
234, and 242. The largest number of eggs deposited bv any single 
female recorded is 254 (Table 2, X^o. 8). In Table 2 are recorded 
the total numbers of eggs deposited by 35 females, the daily oviposi- 
tion records of 24 of which are given in Table 3. 
