l8o NEEDHAM. [VOL. I. 



time but few eggs were hatched. Pupae were first found August 

 5, and newly transformed imagoes, August 8, two months after 

 egg-laying began. 



Examining my collection of several hundred larvae, after the 

 manner of lepidopterists, I find among them three sizes of head, 

 so distinct as to certainly indicate three larval stages. The first, 

 which is of the size attained before hatching, measures in diameter 

 .24-.26mm., the second .40-44 mm., and the third .Si-.85mm. 



My notes and collection labels together indicate the following 

 life history : 



1. An egg stage, lasting about three weeks. The eggs lie at 

 the bottom of punctures made through the wall of the flag ovary 

 by the mother-beetle with her rostrum. The egg is pellucid 

 white, broadly oblong-oval in outline, and measures .38 by .70 mm. 



2. A first larval stage, lasting about five days. At the end 

 of this stage an average larva measures 2.2 mm. in length by 

 .4 mm. in greatest diameter. 



3. A second larval stage, lasting perhaps ten days (certainly 

 not over two weeks), at the end of which the larva measures 

 4.60 mm. in length by 1.02 mm. in greatest diameter. Thus far 

 the larva remains slender and quite elongate. During these two 

 stages it traverses the outer face of from three to five seeds, 

 leaving a slowly widening, shallow, brown furrow across their 

 surfaces. 



4. A third larval stage, lasting a very little more than two 

 weeks, and divided into two periods : 



(a) A period of feeding, and extraordinarily rapid growth, 

 lasting hardly more than a week. The greater part of increase 

 in size is attained during this short period. During it the larva 

 is boring through the center of several seeds, feeding on 

 their highly nutritive endosperm. At the end of it the larva 

 measures 6.5 mm. by 2.5 mm. 



(b) A period of transformation to the pupa. 



5. A pupal stage, lasting, apparently, not more than a week, 

 spent within the larval burrow. The pupa is naked and smooth, 

 except for a pair of recurved spines on the tip of the abdomen. 



6. A period of adult life, lasting ten or more months. Of this 

 time a month or more is spent (lasting until the bursting of the 



