DESCEIPTION AND SEASONAL HISTORY. 17 
the end of April; at Acicastello in 1910 tliey appeared during the 
first part of the second half of April. The maximum birth at Portici 
in 1909 took place toward the end of the second decade of May and 
the last adults were hatched near the end of May. At Acicastello 
the maximum birth took place in the first decade of May and the 
last were hatched during the second decade of the same month. 
The females do not, however, always confine themselves to alfalfa 
stems in ovipositing. On April 18, 1911, Mr. T. H. Parks found eggs 
of Phytonomus in punctures similar to those made in alfalfa in the 
stems of the ground plum. Astragalus arietinus. Later Mr. C. N. 
Ainslie found a number of these eggs in similar punctures, also in the 
stems of this plant, there being usually six or eight eggs in each 
puncture. Afterwards ^ix. Ainslie found larvae feeding on Astragalus 
utaJiensis. 
A few days before, Mr. Parks had also found eggs deposited on the 
surface of leaves, on bits of trash, on the inside of a split stem of 
grass, and, in one case, upon the bare ground. 
In a very early spring some of the eggs may 
be deposited outside of the plant, but evidently 
this is not usual and occurs mostly when the 
growing stems of alfalfa are too small or not suffi- 
ciently numerous to satisfy the requirements of yj^. s.-Theaifaiia weevil: 
the females in this direction. In preparing for Eggs. Greatly enlarged. 
egg deposition the female punctures the stem (Author's illustration.) 
with her beak. The punctured stems and a group of these eggs in 
place are shown in figure 4. 
The method of oviposition has been described by Mr. Titus. ^ 
Observations were made by Mr. C. N. Ainslie in which he found 
that oviposition seemed to be accomplished by forcing the beak into 
the fleshy tissues of the stem, sometimes into a hollow stem, in which 
case the eggs are merely placed in the natural cavity. Where placed 
in a leaf petiole, as is sometimes the case, the cavity for the eggs 
must be necessarily eaten out. Generally in these eaten cavities only 
4 or 5 eggs are placed, wliile in the hollow stems 15 or 20 seem 
not uncommon. Once or twice Mr. Ainslie found eggs placed below 
the enlarged base of the petiole. In this case the eggs were placed 
in position through a hole made through the base of the petiole 
and the mass of eggs was well protected by the hairy leaf buds 
and unfolded leaflets behind the base of the petiole. Once in a 
while the hole into the stem is eaten and the beak not merely forced 
in, in which case the gleam of the yellow eggs can be seen through 
the tunnel into the stem. When the opening is forced it is left more 
or less filled with fibers that have been disrupted or forced aside by 
the beak and the ovipositor. These fibers are often blackened from 
1 Bulletin 110, Utah Agr. Coll. Exp. Sta., pp. 38-39, September, 1910. 
26200°— Bull. 112—12 2 
