New York Agkicultueal Experiment Station. 255 



until May 18, while in 1898 none were found until May 30, and 

 during both 1897 and 1898 the adult beetles did not appear in 

 injurious numbers until about June 10. The solitary specimens 

 seen during the latter part of April and even during May appear 

 to be stragglers looking for something to devour. The chances 

 are that these early beetles are so fortunate as to find winter 

 quarters in buildings and under rubbish where they do not have 

 to go so deep into the soil to be beyond the reach of frost as do 

 those that hibernate in the open fields. For this reason we fre- 

 quently find them during warm days in April and May. 



Both males and females feed ravenously for five or ten days 

 (June 5 to 15) after which they commence to mate. Previous to 

 pairing and especially during the first three or four days of their 

 feeding period they eat tender and tough, clean and dirty, and 

 even poisoned leaves and stems. If food is scarce, they will eat 

 cucumber, squash, and melon plants off do^vn to the roots, and 

 dig after those that are not yet out of ground. During this period 

 they also show a decided preference for the squash. Even where 

 the squashes are planted in the same hill with cucumbers or musk- 

 melons the beetles will devour the squashes first. 



After their first ravenous appetite is satisfied and they have 

 commenced pairing, they do less feeding and are more particular 

 as to what they eat; feeding then only on the more tender parts 

 of the vines, especially the flowers. At this time they absolutely 

 refuse to feed on any part of the vine that may bear foreign 

 substance on its surface. This habit makes it impossible to kill 

 them with a poison after pairing commences. They will not al- 

 ways leave the treated vines, but do their feeding on the grow- 

 ing tips of the vine and on the flowers. All poisons should, there- 

 fore, be applied before pairing commences. 



Pairing continues until the middle of August, even though egg 

 laying may have ceased a month before. The tendency to pair 

 is so strong in the males that I have even found them attached to 

 the females of the twelve-spotted beetle. 



Egg. — According to observations made in the field during 1898, 



