ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY — ENTOMOLOGY. 761 



tions of IS gravid females showed an average of 33 eggs with an upper limit 

 of 59, but 5 i)airs confined in breeding cages produced an average of 88 eggs 

 per pail*. Thirty-two eggs exposed to an average mean temperature of 74° P. 

 required an average of 7.7 days for hatching. 



Under an average mean temi)erature of 73°, 24 individuals spent an average 

 of 27.1 days in the larval stage. When first hatched the larva is very active 

 and crawls rapidly about. In cages where the soil was moist all the way to the 

 top, the pupal cells were constructed within ^ in., or even less, of the surface, 

 but in others where the surface soil was dry they were constructed in the moist 

 soil even when that was 2i in. below the surface. Records of 10 individuals 

 showed that an average of 13 days was required to complete the pupal stage 

 under an average mean temperature of G5.9°, while records of 14 individuals 

 showed that an average of 23 days was required under an average mean tem- 

 perature of GG°. " The length of period from the hatching of the egg to adult, 

 54.14 days, added to the average length of the egg stage, 7.7 days, gives a total 

 of 61.8 days required to complete the life cycle, under an average mean tem- 

 perature of 70° F." 



Experiments were conducted to determine the effectiveness of various repel- 

 lents. "Among those with little or no practical value may be mentioned char- 

 coal, soot, road dust, saltpeter, cow manure, chicken manure, burdock infusion, 

 slug shot, hellebore, rags and corn cobs soaked in kerosene, bisulphid of carbon, 

 land plaster, and X. O. dust. Among those that have proven more useful are 

 ashes, air-slaked lime alone or with arsenites, tobacco dust, and Bordeaux 

 mixture alone or with Paris green." Where these were applied the arsenate 

 of lead plats made the best growth of any and the cucumber division thus 

 treated produced the earliest cucumbers in the patch. Three lbs. of arsenate 

 of lead to 50 gal. of water seemed just as effective as 6 lbs. 



Although young and tender squash plants were kept dusted the beetles could 

 not be destroyed with either Paris green or arsenate of lead. Squash plants 

 may be used as traps for both squash and cucumber crops provided the latter 

 are covered with some foreign substance to render them distasteful. When a 

 large acreage is to be grown it is recommended that trap squashes be planted 

 about the field a week or ten days before the regular crop is set out and 

 through the field at intervals. Another set of trap squash seed should be 

 planted when the regular crop is put into the ground, and again a week or 10 

 days before the main crop has been started. From the first appearance of the 

 pest the crop should be thoroughly covered with arsenate of lead at the rate 

 of 3 lbs. to 50 gal. of water or with tobacco dust if preferred. In cases of 

 extreme infestation covering the plants seems to be the only means of saving 

 them. Several kinds of covers are described. 



A contribution on the distribution of gall forming beetles in Silesia, H. 

 Schmidt (Ztsclv. Wiss. Insektenhiol., 5 (1909), No. 2, pp. 42-49). — An anno- 

 tated list. 



Hibernation of the Mexican cotton boll weevil, W. E. Hinds and W. W. 

 YOTHEES (U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent. Bui. 77, pp. 100, pis. 10, figs. 9).— This 

 is a detailed report of extensive investigations of the hibernation of the cotton 

 boll weevil conducted from 1902 to 1907 in Texas and Louisiana. 



The first part of the bulletin (pp. 11-25) discusses the entrance of the -weevil 

 into hibernation. Concerning this the authors state that food conditions in 

 the fall govern largely the abundance of the individuals which may enter 

 hil)ernation and therefore affect the abundance of the species in the following 

 spring, since climatic and shelter conditions govern largely the proportion of 

 the hibernating individuals which may survive. Weevils becoming adult com- 

 paratively late in the season are more likely to survive hibernation than are 



