OF WASHINGTON. 



157 



FIG. 19. Work of Epidapus scabiei. 



in the greenhouse. Types in collection of West Virginia Ag 

 ricultural Experiment Station. 



HABITS. 



The adults are very rapid in their movements, abruptly stopping 

 and starting at short intervals. The short-winged males seldom 

 attempt to fly, but like the wingless females, when alarmed, con 

 ceal themselves in the soil, or in the substance infested by them. 

 The long-winged males 

 under the same condi 

 tions escape by flight. 

 The females are some 

 times seen to leap like 

 fleas. They readily move 

 about through loose 

 earth , and have been 

 observed to go into the 

 soil for considerable 

 depth. They deposit 

 from twenty to thirty 

 eggs, which hatch in five to six days. The larvae move about 

 freely through damp soil and in the substance on which they 

 are feeding, and, at times, they are quite active. They may 

 occur singly or in great numbers, massed together in the sub 

 stance 'infested by them. They appear to spin a web wherever 

 they go, and if the substance upon which they are feeding 

 is exposed to the light they will quickly spin a web over 

 the surface in order 

 to conceal the m - 

 selves beneath i t . 

 Under f a v o r a b le 

 conditions, they will 

 cease feeding i n 

 seven or eight days 

 after they are 

 hatched, and, after 

 wandering about for 

 a short time, they 

 proceed to make a cocoon, apparently of silk, in the soil, 

 or in the outer portion of the substance inhabited by them, 

 and in about three days they change to pupas, the adults 

 emerging in three or four days after. The female commences 

 to deposit eggs in five to six days after she emerges, and usually 

 dies soon after performing this duty. Thus it will be seen that, 

 under favorable conditions, a brood or generation may develop 

 every twenty to twenty-five days. 



FIG. 20. Work of Epidapus scabiei. 



