246 Journal New York Entomological Society, [Vol. xxiv. 



Life History. 



On April twenty-six the beetles were first observed coming out 

 of their hibernating quarters. A few days later egg laying com- 

 menced. April thirtieth eggs were found abundant out of doors 

 although pairs of beetles which were kept indoors did not commence 

 laying until May 2. The writer had no difficulty in inducing the 

 beetles to lay in captivity. 



Copulation lasts for five or six minutes. The male grasps the 

 female about the abdomen with his middle and hind legs. His front 

 legs are stretched forwards and the claws are hooked over the front 

 edge of the prothorax of the female. A few minutes after copulation 

 the female becomes nervous and wanders over the dandelion bud and 

 finally comes to rest at the base of the bud with her head downward. 

 She here proceeds to bore a hole into the bud with her proboscis. At 

 first she eats her way through the involucre, then works her beak 

 between the ovules until she forces it down its entire length into 

 the bud. This takes her about nineteen or twenty minutes, after 

 which she turns about quickly and lays her eggs through the hole 

 she has made. The number of eggs laid in a single puncture varies 

 from one to five. From an examination of over two hundred dande- 

 lion heads two eggs were found to be the average number. It is not 

 uncommon to find as many as three or four egg punctures in a single 

 bud, so that a bud may contain as many as ten eggs. Infested buds 

 are very conspicuous because of the black masses at their base formed 

 by the milky fluid of the dandelion which oozes through the egg 

 punctures and hardens on the outside. 



The eggs are laid throughout a considerable period of time. A 

 number of experiments were carried on to determine the oviposition 

 period. All the beetles used in these experiments were collected 

 before egg laying was observed out of doors. The first eggs laid in 

 captivity were on the second of May. During May eggs were very 

 abundant but in June egg laying was greatly reduced and in July 

 only a few eggs were laid. Thus the oviposition period lasts a little 

 over two months. 



