200 Journal of Agricultural Research voi. vi. No. s 



HABITS AND SEASONAL HISTORY 

 THE BEETLES 



The beetles emerge from hibernation at Mont Alto, Pa., about the 

 middle of April and commence mating about the 20th of that month. 

 When the species is feeding upon the terrapin scale, the beetles hibernate 

 for the most part at the bases of scale-infested peach {Amygdalus persica) 

 trees. After emerging from hibernation they soon depart in search of 

 food and do not return to the peach until the adult scale, which the 

 beetle is unable to destroy, begins to deposit honeydew — about the 

 middle of May. For the rest of the season the species remains upon the 

 peach, feeding upon the scale and its honeydew. The overwintering 

 beetles are nearly all dead by the middle of July, while the new brood 

 of beetles escapes from pupse for the most part during the first half of 

 that month. 



There is some indication of a second brood, but there is not enough 

 evidence at hand to establish it. 



THE EGGS 



A very typical group of four eggs just as they were deposited is shown 

 in Plate XXIV, figure 3. It will be noticed that the eggs are not clustered, 

 but are placed more or less at random in the irregularities of the bark 

 adjacent to the host. The terrapin scale upon which the species was 

 feeding is found only upon young wood, the growth rings of which 

 supply a convenient shelter for the eggs of the beetle. It is not unusual, 

 however, to find eggs in crevices at the base of fruit spurs or even upon 

 smooth bark. It is worthy of note in this connection that the eggs 

 are not placed under the scales. It was found that the membranous 

 shell became dry and shriveled in from three to six days, and that the 

 egg changed to an ash-gray near the end of the incubation period. 



The first eggs of the season were laid upon the twigs of scale-infested 

 peach trees at Mont Alto, Pa., on May 3, 1913, but were immediately 

 consumed by the beetles, as were all later eggs, until the food supply 

 became abundant. It was not until May 26 that eggs were permitted 

 to hatch. Oviposition reached its maximum about June 5, and con- 

 tinued in a small way until September i . Owing to the tendency of the 

 beetles to devour their eggs, it was not possible to determine definitely 

 the beginning of oviposition or the total number of eggs; 36 was the 

 largest number obtained from a single female, but there were indications 

 that several times that number had been deposited. Incubation lasts 

 from six to eight days; the average for 18 eggs deposited between June 

 27 and 30, 191 3, was seven days. 



