LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS: THE EGG. 
39 
the pear, the young fruit of which upon falling dries, becoming more 
or less flinty. Many hundreds of Kieffer, LeConte, Duchess and 
other varieties of pears have been collected, but in only a few cases 
were adults reared therefrom. 
LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 
THE EGG. 
NUMBER OF EGGS DEPOSITED. 
The number of eggs deposited by the curculio was long a matter 
of conjecture. Riley's estimate (First Missouri Report, p. 54) of 
from 50 to 100 has been generally quoted in the absence of definite 
observations. He further states that eggs are deposited at the rate 
of from 5 to 10 a day, the activity of beetles varying with the tem- 
perature. Prof. A. J. Cook, by dissection, found that a single female 
may contain 30 eggs. Dissections during early May, 1887, by Mr. 
W. B. Alwood showed the presence of only 1 or 2 fully developed 
eggs, although many immature ova were found. Late in May, how- 
ever, 4 to 10 eggs were found in each female. Riley and Howard 1 
in 1888 expressed belief in Riley's earlier estimate, as based on the 
rate of development, dissections, and observations. 
The first attempt to obtain more exact information on this point 
was apparently in 1902, during the spring of which year Messrs. 
Quaintance and Smith 2 made observations in Maryland on 9 females 
confined separately during their lives and supplied daily with fresh 
plums. Careful examinations of the fruit were made and the number 
of eggs deposited by each female daily recorded. 
The record is shown in abstract in the table below, from date of 
capture, May 14, to time of death of each individual. 
Table III. — Egg-laying records from 10 plum curculios, College Park, Md., 1902. 
Eggs laid each week by each individual. 
No. of individual. 
May 
14-20. 
May 
21-27. 
Mav 
28- 
June 
3. 
June 
4-10. 
June 
11-17. 
June 
18-24. 
June 
25- 
Julv 
1. 
July 
2 8. 
July 
9-15. 
July 
L6-22. 
July 
23-29. 
July 
30^ 
Aug. 
5. 
Total. 
1 
37 
05 
75 
91 
43 
40 
20 
20 
24 
11 
14 
2 
14 
6 
3 
10 
21 
9 
276 
2 
235 
3 
4 
62 
70 
04 
17 
45 
65 
71 
102 
104 
07 
45 
83 
114 
71) 
59 
04 
50 
51 
45 
51 
28 
36 
27 
2 
25 
5 
304 
14 
9 

20 
30 
13 
4 SO 
(i 
270 
7 
62 
8 
14 
01 
77 
142 
9 
60 
30 
39 
27 
25 
25 
10 
8 
8 
..... 
5 
13 
10 
10 
397 
10.... 
;u i > 
Total 
490 
700 
414 
289 
192 
98 
40 
23 
12 
48 
71 
22 
2. 471 
i Kepi. Km. Cr.S.Comm. Agr., 1888, p 59. 
* U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Ent. Bui. 37, n. s., pp. 105-107, 1902. 
