Exclusive of reared adults, a total of 75 females were confined 

 singly for eggs, of which number 45 females laid a total of 718 eggs, 

 or an average of 16 eggs each, while 30 females laid no eggs. 



Average from the 45 females, .345 eggs per day, or 1 egg each 3 days. 

 Average from the 75 females, .204 eggs per day, or ] egg each 5 days. 



It is reasonable to believe that those females which did not lay 

 eggs were old females, and were exhausted of eggs before confined. 

 The confined females were collected in the field, and their age from 

 date of first emergence could not therefore be determined. It is be- 

 lieved that the average from the forty females that laid eggs can be 

 taken as nearly the correct or normal figure. 



The average length of life of 45 females that laid eggs was 47 

 days (about one and one-half months) ; the average length of period 

 of oviposition 11 days (about one and one-half weeks). (The dura- 

 tion of oviposition is taken as including the time between the recorded 

 dates of laying of the first and last eggs in confinement.) As the 

 environment of the beetles in the experimental jars was certainly 

 quite different from that outdoors, it is possible that these figures 

 w^ould be materially lengthened in outdoor or natural conditions. 



The greatest duration of the egg-laying period was 42 days (or 

 six weeks), the female laying in that time only 39 eggs, or slightly 

 under one egg per day. The egg-laying period of 25 out of the 45- 

 females was less than one week in duration. 



The female that lived the longest in confinement, 95 days (or 

 thirteen and one-half weeks), laid only 12 eggs, all within three days. 

 One female lived 59 days (or eight and one-half weeks) and laid no 

 eggs, being fed, however, during the entire period. 



The egg laying of adults is periodical. For instance, in the group 

 of 14 females included in the numbers 1206 to 1219, inclusive, where 

 the average length of life was 56 days, over half of the 188 eggs 

 were laid within six days — between the 80th and 35th days of con- 

 finement. Again, in the group of eight females included in the num- 

 bers 1284a to 1284/j, inclusive, where the average length of life was 

 36^ days, over three-fifths of all the 57 eggs were laid in the five 

 days between the 27tli and 82d days of confinement. There facts, 

 merely as circumstancial evidence, would make it appear that about 

 a month is required for mature eggs to form in the female uterus 

 after copulation. 



The largest number of eggs laid in a short space of time l)y a 

 female was 35 (see No. 1209), laid in two days, or at a rate of IS 

 eggs per day. 



85 



