226 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



[June, '18 



five generations of this beetle each year, the number of gener- 

 ations depending upon the length of the warm season. The 

 life of the male is much shorter than that of the female; from 

 my observations I found the life of the female to be about 

 three times the length of that of the male. 



Following are the dates and number of eggs laid by a female 

 beetle of the first generation, the period of incubation, larval 

 period and the time required for pupation : 



Total, 1049 eggs. 



This female laid no more eggs after May I2th and on May 

 iSth we found her dead on a leaf of dock; most of these bee- 

 tles go into the soil to die. 



April 9th, fifteen larvae hatched from the batch of twenty- 

 nine eggs laid on March 3ist. These tiny, black, worm-like 

 larvae were kept in a jar containing about two inches of soil, 

 and provided with fresh dock leaves daily. The larvae of 

 these beetles do not seem to moult, but simply grow larger until 

 they enter the soil for pupation. 



April 26th all of the larvae living at that time, ten in all, 

 entered the soil to pupate. Nothing more was seen of them 

 until May loth, when five fully developed beetles emerged 

 from the soil, five having died during the pupal period. 



During the process of transformation these injects change 

 in color from black to yellow, and from yellow to green. 



From notes taken at different times I find that the time for 

 incubation is from six to ten days ; the larval period is from 

 ten to sixteen days, and the pupal period is from fourteen to 

 sixteen days. 



