304 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXIX, No. 6 
Table IV, following the general re¬ 
sults of Tables I and III, shows that 
the average length of life of all females, 
lone, or mating, is shortest for the 
group receiving nothing, and in¬ 
creases for the groups receiving water, 
honey, and sugar water. For the lone 
females as with the lone males the 
maximum length of time lived by an 
individual of each group was shortest 
without food, longer when given water, 
still longer when receiving honey, and 
longest when fed sugar water. The 
lone females which received no food, 
although they produced an average of 
62 eggs, lived an average of 10 days 
longer than the average number of 
days lived by the mating females. 
The lone females given water pro¬ 
duced an average of 57 eggs and lived 
an average of 11 days longer than the 
corresponding mating females. Females 
receiving hone} r produced an average 
of 66 eggs and lived an average of 14 
days longer than the mating females 
receiving the same food. The females 
receiving sugar water laid an average 
of 56 eggs each and lived an average 
of 23 days longer than the average for 
the corresponding mating females. 
Only in the group of lone females fed 
on honey did a weevil which had laid 
fertile eggs live as long as virgins in 
the same group. The maximum num¬ 
ber of eggs laid by lone females were for 
nothing, water, honey, and sugar water, 
respectively, 110, 137, 116, and 148. 
For the average and maximum number 
of eggs laid by the mating females see 
Table I. 
# While the great majority of the 
viable eggs laid by the lone females 
were deposited early in the life of the 
females, some weevils emerged from 
eggs laid by the water-fed and honey- 
fed weevils when they were 24 days old. 
Weevils emerged from eggs laid by the 
sugar-water group and the group with¬ 
out food when they were 23 days and 
18 days old, respectively. 
RESULTS WITH VIRGIN FEMALES 
The 24 virgin females studied in 
experiment 4 emerged July 16 in 
separate containers where no males 
emerged, and so had no chance to 
mate. Table V shows that the virgin 
females which did not receive food 
were unable to live as long as those 
receiving food. The virgin females 
lived longer than the mating females 
receiving the same treatment as to 
food (Table IV), but not as long as 
the lone females. The temperature 
during late July and August was much 
higher than earlier in the season, and 
the increased temperature undoubtedly 
shortened the lives of the last group 
of weevils. Although 17 eggs were 
laid by these weevils, they all failed 
to hatch, which would indicate that 
weevils of this species may deposit a 
small number of eggs without copu¬ 
lation having taken place, but that 
the eggs will not hatch. 
Table V.— Results of feeding experiments with 24 virgin females, Bruchus quadri - 
maculatus , fed on water , honey , sugar water , and nothing , 1923 
Fed on water 
Fed on honey 
Fed on sugar water 
Not fed 
Number of 
weevils 
Lon¬ 
gevity 
Eggs 
depos¬ 
ited 
Number 
of 
weevils 
Lon¬ 
gevity 
Eggs 
depos¬ 
ited 
Number 
of 
weevils 
Lon¬ 
gevity 
Eggs 
depos¬ 
ited 
5 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
Number 
of 
weevils 
Lon¬ 
gevity 
! 
Eggs 
depos¬ 
ited 
1_.. 
Days 
49 
22 
39 
23 
42 
32 
1 
1 
0 
0 
0 
0 
2_ 
Days 
33 
42 
30 
29 
22 
45 
0 
1 
0 
1 
0 
5 
3... 
Days 
28 
32 
49 
25 
51 
67 
4_ 
i 
Days 
24 
22 | 
26 
22 
23 
24 
1 
0 
0 
0 
1 
1 
5... 
6. 
7 . 
8 
9__ 
10.. 
11_ 
12_ 
13..... 
14.. 
15_ 
16_ 
17__ 
18.. 
19 . . 
20 
21.. 
22.. 
23 . 
24 
Total... 
207 
2 
201 
7 
252 
5 
141 
3 
Average_ 
34. 5 
0.33 
33. 5 
1.17 
42. 0 
0. 83 
23. 5 
| 0.50 
Maximum.. 
49 
1 
45 
5 
67 
5 
26 
! 1 
Minimum.. 
22 
0 
22 
0 
25 
0 
22 
0 
