IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 207 



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

 leaf that had been carefully freed from all matter that might 

 possibly contain eggs of other species, and 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. Epicaerus imhricatu^ eggs. (Drawn by Miss Kins.) 



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 gummicg another 

 leaf to the surface." 



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

 cal, sometimes very slightly curved, the ends broa lly rounded, 

 the surface smooth, transparent and the shell very thin. 



The first larvas to hatch escaped before beitg seen, the 

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

 fore occurs within ten days from time of deposition. Other 

 eggs isolated and kept under close observation showed that the 

 larvoe 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 Ihey fed upon the roots of the strawberry plant. 



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

 larvcB unfortunately brought the observation to an end. 



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

 eyes or legs. They are yellowish- wtiiie 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 larva^ stand out rather prominently 

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

 vided with a few small hairs. 



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



