208 Notes on the Straivhern/ Leaf Beetle 



began the day following their arrival and this took place underground 

 without the formation of a cocoon. 



Date of pupation: June 21st-24th. 



Adults hatched: July 22nd to 26th. 



The beetles, on hatching, were in a fairly active condition but it took 

 them from three to six days to harden. At the least sound or noise the 

 beetles feigned death and dropped to the ground where they soon 

 burrowed and disappeared out of sight. They were hardly ever observed 

 to feed in the daytime. They fed mostly during the nights and early 

 mornings, when quite a few did not seem to be disturbed, either by noise 

 or even by handling their pot-plant. 



This is not the first time that the species has been reported as injurious 

 to the strawberry plant. Ormerod(3) received information of damage 

 done by it from Hundred Acres, Wickham, Hampshire, with a note that 

 they were destroying the strawberry plants in that neighbourhood, and 

 that it was considered a new pest in the locality. Mr Theobald has re- 

 ceived it this year from Buckinghamshire also. 



Lampa (i) records it from Sweden. 



Sacharov(5) records it for the first time in Eussia as injurious to 

 strawberries. "The beetle winters," he says, "underneath old leaves on 

 the beds of strawberries; with the arrival of warm weather the insects 

 appear and feed on the young leaves, and oviposit during April and May. 

 The eggs are deposited by the female in a hole gnaw^ed by it in the leaf, 

 3-10 eggs being laid in such a hole. The egg-stage lasts 12-14 days." 



f 



Anal proleg 

 (side view). 



Fig. 1. Larva of O. tendla. 



