IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



207 



and these, with those previously found, were placed by a fresh 

 leaf that had been carefully fret d from all matter that might 

 possibly contain eggs of other species, aiid the beetles removed 

 to avoid possibility of their injuring the egg. The eggs 

 appeared in all cases to be protected by a fold of leaf carefully 

 glued down. 



Fig. 8. Epicaerui imbricjtus eggs. (Drawn by Misi King.) 



Forbes^ says of Epicaerus that they "were found by experi- 

 ment to feed freely on pear leaves, and also to lay their eggs 

 upon these leaves, concealing their deposit by gumming another 

 leaf to the surface." 



The eggs are 1.3 mm. long, glistening white, nearly cylindri- 

 cal, sometimes very slightly curved, the ends broaily rounded, 

 the surface smooth, transparent and the shell very thin. 



The first larvee to hatch escaped before being seen, the 

 empty shells being first noticed on the 30ih. Hatching there- 

 fore occurs within ten days from time of deposition. Other 

 eggs isolated and kept under close observation showed that the 

 larvse immediately work their way into the ground and these 

 observed in root cages, during the following three weeks, 

 could be seen to move about among the roots and as they very 

 evidently increased in size and appeared to thrive it is safe to 

 say that they fed upon the roots of the straw^berry plant. 



The death of the plants in the root cages and the loss of the 

 larvEe unfortunately brought ihe observation to an end. 



The young larvas are two mm. long, without any trace of 

 eyes or legs. They are yellowish- whice in color, the head 

 from above oval with a few strong bristles and the mandibles 

 very conspicuous. The maxillary and labial palpi are short, 

 stumpy and in the living larvse stand out rather prominently 

 from the under side of the head. The body segments are pro- 

 vided with a few small hairs. 



I Sixteenth Report State Entom., 111. p. 76. 



