92 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



containing some fresli clay, and corked up. They at once entered the 

 earth, and in sixteen days, (June 2otli), appeared as beetles, proving to be 

 Trogochrina Oniata — all females. From these experiments it appears 

 that this insect is annual ; that the larvae enter the earth to develop, and 

 that to escape t>om confinement for this purpose they have power to gnaw 

 through a considerable thickness of wood. And further, that in case they 

 are prevented from entering the earth, unlike the larvae of many Lepidop- 

 tera, they do nol pujiatc. but continue to moult monthly for an indefinite 

 period, ]jerhaps a year, before dying. 



 SiTODRKi'A {Aiiobiuiii ) Panicka Liiiii. — This insect appears to be 

 omnivorous. Rev. Wm. Kirby states that its larva has been found in 

 Cantharis vesica tor id : Dr. Geo. H. Horn, that it will breed in and 

 destroy the cork in insect boxes. 'I'hat it is likel} to become more than 

 an accidental museum pest is scarcely probable. But where so circum- 

 stanced as to be compelled to choose between cork and insects, the latter 

 are most decidedly in-eferred. 



My boxes are double, and lined with half-inch cork, which before 

 papering is saturated with an alcoholic solution of corrosive sublimate. 

 One box having escaped this treatment, on opening it last spring (1882), 

 several of these beetles were fotmd, having been bred in the cork. They 

 were removed, and on one side of the box were pinned against the bottom 

 several cards with duplicate Ijeetles attached ; the other was occupied by 

 larger specimens mounted on pins. 



During the summer, whenever opened, a number of the insects in 

 question were picked out. About a month ago, on removing the dupli- 

 cates, so as to treat the cork with the poisoned alcohol, the discovery was 

 made that they were infested with the larvse of Panicea, and completely 

 destroyed. The larger beetles sometimes contained five or six grubs, each. 

 They were in all stages of growth, from pupae to larvae apparently just 

 hatched. The time required for development is unknown, but there seems 

 to be at least two broods in the year in confinement. It may not, like 

 Ant/irc/ius, enter a collection from an appetite for insect food ; but if im- 

 prisoned without way of escape, my experience shows the result will be 

 the same. 



American Natural History literature is somewhat barren in regard to 

 such a common and obtrusive pest. 



