106 THE PLUM CURCULIO. 
finement present many variations; as already explained, the beetles 
in making the punctures derive much of the nscessary force from the 
legs, and the feet must be firmly anchored. That they often have 
trouble to secure a good footing is clear from observations on the 
beetles at work. In fact, the attempt at a given point on smooth 
and tough skinned fruits, as apples and plums, is not infrequently 
abandoned and other locations sought. Young apples and peaches 
covered with pubescence and pears with roughened skin afford good 
anchorage for the feet. As the apples grow, however, the skin 
becomes smooth and beetles have trouble in puncturing the tough 
skin and abnormal punctures are frequent. In the case of wild 
plums detailed observations indicate that difficulty is often expe- 
rienced by the beetles, as shown by variations in the egg puncture. 
Thus, in a study of 200 fruits which averaged about 12.75 mm. in 
greatest transverse diameter and each bearing an egg puncture, 102, 
or 51 per cent, of the punctures were normal. In 75 cases the crescent 
was short and almost a straight line and was entirely absent in 23 
cases, the egg cavity only being present. The following records of 
the activities of 30 pairs of beetles in egg laying and feeding on plums 
during the night of May 12 are of interest in this connection. There 
were 121 crescentic punctures with eggs and 51 such punctures with- 
out eggs; 13 cavities with eggs were unaccompanied by crescents, 
and two eggs were found in one egg cavity. About 324 feeding 
punctures were present. 
The variation in position of the crescentic cut was found in 50 
plums examined to be as follows: Normal, 18; with crescent but 
little curved, 10; with crescent short and straight, 12; and the cres- 
cent was absent in 10. The same specimens showed a variation in 
relative position of crescent and egg cavity as follows: Egg cavity 
central to crescent, 20; slightly to right, 8; slightly to left, 5; on 
center of right, 4; on center of left, 3; crescent absent, 10. 
RELATIVE NUMBER OF FEEDING AND EGG PUNCTURES. 
The relative abundance of feeding and egg punctures was several 
times noted. Table LV gives data from three localities. The fruit 
used at Siloam Springs, Ark., was apple; at Washington, D. C, plum; 
and at Myrtle, Ga., peach. The date of death of the respective sexes 
was not determined for Arkansas. In the Washington records the 
dates are for both sexes, and the Georgia records give dates of death 
of each sex for each pair. 
