29 



Virginia,- and more commonly soutliward. It was not until the year 

 181)1 that any considerable information regarding the insect's earlier 

 stages was published. In that year Dr. J. A. Lintner published in his 

 Seventh Report on the Injurious and Other Insects of the State of 

 New York an extensive account (pp. 216-255), which included detailed 

 descriptions of the larva and pupa by Mr. E. A. Schwarz, of this 

 Division, with tigures prepared in this office under the direction of 

 the late Dr. Riley. These illustrations, not hitherto used in depart- 

 mental publications, are now used as an accompaniment to the present 

 notes, which add somewhat to our knowledge of the life history of this 

 oiii" largest and most striking native beetle. 



Recently' Dr. A. K. Fisher, of the Biological Survey of this Depart- 

 ment, furnished the writer with a pair of this species from Sandy 

 Spring, Md. , and from these July 16 we obtained the egg and later 

 the young larva. As this stage has not hitherto been described, the 

 following description is submitted with other notes: 



DESCRIPTION OF THE EGG AND YOUNG LARVA. 



The egg of Dynastes tUyu!< looks precisely like a very small bird's 

 egg. It is one of the largest insect's eggs that the writer has ever 

 seen, measuring upward of an eighth of an inch at its widest diameter. 

 In outline it is broadly oval and perfectly symmetrical, of iirm con- 

 sistency, and quite elastic. It is of a dull cream color and without 

 polish or visible sculpture. The length of a freshly deposited egg is 

 a little more than 1 inch (3.5'"'"), and the shorter diameter 3'"'". 



The newl}^ hatched larva is nearl}'^ a counterpart of that of Lach- 

 nosterna and related white grubs, being about double the size and width 

 of that of Lachnosterna arcuata., which was figured and described by the 

 writer on pages 71: and 76, respectively, of Bulletin 19 (n. s.), of this 

 office. These differences, however, are observable: The head is larger, 

 more globular, darker ))rown in color, and of firmer consistency, being- 

 more strongly chitinized than that of Lachnosterna; the mandibles are 

 proportionate!}^ shorter and less sickle-like, and the teeth are nearly 

 the same on both sides, the single tooth being placed nearer the tip of 

 the mandibles. [In LachmMerna fnaca there are two teeth on the left 

 side, near the base of the mandibles, and only one tooth on the right 

 side.] The legs are proportionately shorter and the pubescence longer. 



DESCRIPTIONS OF LATER STAGES. 



For the benefit of those who have not seen this species, the accom- 

 panying illustration of the male is furnished, slightly enlarged, in fig- 

 ure 2. It measures from 2i to 2i inches from the tip of the horns 

 to the end of the l)ody. The female is similar, but is unarmed with 

 horns. The general color above is a pale bluish gray in life, and the 



