113 



The minimum length of the pupal stage was found to be 8 days, and 

 the maximum 20 days. An average of the figures in Table III gives 

 13.8 days as the average length of the pupal stage. 



Adult. — The adult of this species is an exception among the May- 

 beetles in that it is a day flier, pupation occurs in the early summer 

 rather than in the fall, the adults do not live over winter and the 

 females are wingless. The adult beetles (Fig. 5) are brown in color 

 and when freshly transformed are covered with small lanceolate 

 cinereous scales which rub off when abraded, leaving a few scales to 

 form discal vittae on the elytra. 



The beetles vary in size from 13 to 17 mm. The females are much 

 larger than the males and are strongly ovate in form, while the male is 

 more oblong with its sides nearly parallel. Since the genitalia of 

 Lachnosterna are strong taxonomic characters, those of L. lanceolata 

 are shown in Figure 6. 



In the vicinity of Mahattan, Kansas, adults are abundant in pasture 

 land from the early part of June to the last of July. The females are 

 to be found crawling on the ground or up the stems of pasture plants. 

 The males are strong fliers and fly from plant to plant. Mating occurs 

 on the surface of the soil or on plants. The proportion of sexes of over 

 nine thousand individuals collected in two summers was found to favor 

 the females one year and the males the next. The beetles fly and 

 crawl from early morning till the hotter parts of the day. at which time 

 they burrow into the ground to avoid the heat. 



