380 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XI t No. 8 
OVIPOSITION 
In ovipositing, the insect usually stands with the body parallel to the 
axis of the trunk or branch, with the head toward its upper extremity, 
and makes a double transverse incision in the bark with the mandibles. 
The ovipositor is then inserted into one of the incisions, and the egg 
thrust downward and into the bark to a depth of from 0.125 to 0.25 inch. 
As a rule a cut is made in the bark for every egg, but sometimes two or 
three, and rarely as many as five eggs are deposited side by side. The 
“egg bite,” consisting of two small, transverse slits made side by side in 
the bark by the mandibles, is usually* the only external evidence of the 
presence of eggs; but on rare occasions the eggs are inserted so near the 
surface as to be visible as slight elevations in the bark. 
The preoviposition period, or the time elapsing between emergence 
and oviposition, ordinarily varied from 8 to 16 days; but in a few speci¬ 
mens it was nearly a month. Most of the specimens required 8 days. 
The females also lived from 8 to 26 days after they had ceased to de¬ 
posit eggs, but this was in the fall and winter when cool weather probably 
retarded oviposition. 
NUMBER OF EGGS DEPOSITED 
A complete record of oviposition was obtained from nine insects in 
1914 and 1915. Three of the specimens deposited approximately 101 
eggs each at the average rate of 1.5 eggs each per day; three more speci¬ 
mens deposited approximately 184 eggs each at the average rate of 1 egg 
each per day, and a seventh insect deposited no eggs at the rate of 1.4 
eggs per day. The remaining two females deposited approximately 261 
eggs each at the average rate of 2.4 eggs each per day. The oviposition 
record is given in Table V. 
Table V .—Oviposition record of the three-lined fig-tree borer , New Orleans , La. t 1914 
and 1915 
Number of specimens. 
Date of be¬ 
ginning ovi¬ 
position. 
Date of end¬ 
ing ovipo¬ 
sition. 
Number of 
days of 
oviposition 
Number of 
eggs de¬ 
posited. 
1914 
I 9 I 4 
3 . 
June 30 
Sept. 4 
66 
302 
3 ... 
June 30 
Dec. 26 
179 
553 
* 9*5 
„ 1915 
May 22 
Sept. 6 
107 
5 2 3 
Sept. 29 
Dec, 15 
77 
no 
From the foregoing it is seen that a single female three-lined fig-tree 
boier will deposit from 100 to 184 eggs in the course of her life at an 
average rate of from 1 to 2.4 eggs per day. 
