i6o Annals Entomological Society of America [Vol. I,. 



ered with cheese-cloth and containing fresh soil and potato 

 foliage. They were kept in the shade on a counter in the labora- 

 tory, and supplied fresh foliage daily. The pairs of the first 

 generation are direct descendants of pair No. 2 of the hibernated 

 pairs, and the two lots of the second generation are descendants, 

 of pair No. i of the first generation {Vide seq., history of genera- 

 tions). These later pairs were confined in a manner similar to^ 

 the first two, in the first generation, all of the individuals together 

 until mated, and in the second generation the pairs were not 

 separated from the w^hole lot. 



It is clear from the table that the hibernated pairs deposited 

 very many more eggs than did the pairs of the first generation, 

 and in proportion, the first generation many more than did the 

 pairs of the second. The average number of eggs deposited by 

 each generation is given in the table; the average for the three 

 groups of pairs is 460.5 eggs, but this has no relation with Tower's 

 (1906) average of 450 eggs which I believe is intended as the aver- 

 age of any one pair in any one generation. The number of eggs and 

 the number of batches of eggs deposited by the pairs of the hiber- 

 nated individuals is the largest ever recorded for normal beetles,, 

 the latter ranging from 34 to 50, with an average of 42. Tower 

 (igo6, 1. c.) records the range in batches of eggs to be from 4 to 

 18, with an average of 1 2. The average number of eggs per batch 

 or mass ranges from 10 to 34.94 eggs, and the daily rate of ovi- 

 position from 10 to 24.73 ^ggs. 



3. Color of the Eggs First Deposited. It may be mentioned 

 in passing that the first eggs deposited by the pairs of the first 

 generation were distinctly more reddish than usual ; in pair No. i 

 not becoming normally colored until the third mass was deposited 

 (July 24th to 27th), and with Pair No. 2, the one mass of eggs 

 deposited was of reddish hue, and the same was true of all of the 

 eggs deposited by adults of the second generation. The coloring 

 matter in the first eggs deposited appears to be richer, and be- 

 comes faded somewhat or less dense in the later eggs which are 

 probably more mature before leaving the ovaries. A partial 

 explanation of this is apparently given by Wheeler (1889). All 

 of these eggs were fertile. On September 6th, a recently deposited 

 mass of 29 eggs found in the field were of the same color and 

 proved to be fertile. 



