30 



viving nearly a year, and that egg laying normal'ly extended over a 

 protracted period. 



Mr. Kotinsk}'^ stated that he had been charged by Mr. Marlatt with 

 the care of the imported Asiatic ladybird ever since it had reached this 

 country, a little over a year ago. He had had occasion to closely 

 watch its food habits until during the summer, when large numbers 

 were available and could safely be confined for close observation. At 

 Mr. Marlatt's suggestion he had once placed three larva?, one each 

 of the first, second, and third stages, in a jar upon a peach twig 

 covered with young newly hatched peach scales {D!<(spis 2><'>it<«jona). 

 These had been kept for seventy -two hours, and after making very 

 liberal allowance it was calculated that they had eaten in the course of 

 those three days some 14,000 larvae, an average rate of 1,500 in the 

 course of twenty-four hours, or a little over one per minute for each 

 beetle larva. Upon a closer observation still he had found that a half- 

 grown larva about the second stage would eat a larva of the scale in 

 the course of about five or six seconds, and would consume about 5 or 

 6 per minute. He thought the larvae spent some time wandering 

 about, resting, etc., which accounted for the reduced average when 

 rates per day were considered. Only on one occasion, and that an 

 abnormal one, had he observed one of the larvae to eat another. This 

 occurred when two full-grown larvje were confined upon a stick which 

 had no food upon it at all. He was rather surprised to find that the 

 smaller of them had been eaten into by the large fellow immediately back 

 of the head. The beetles themselves are equally voracious. He had 

 not had a chance to count, but they will eat the scale in all stages and 

 plent}^ of them. It is very interesting to watch them devour an old 

 scale. They do not bore underneath it, but gnaw a hole through the 

 scale close to the exuvium and presumabl}^ suck the juices of the scale 

 insect. Time and again he had found the mutilated skin of the adult 

 female adhering closely to the inside of a scale. Once in a while he had 

 seen the beetles chasing each other and enjoying themselves generally 

 upon the twigs. It was also very amusing to see a female sitting over 

 a scale, the ovipositor projected underneath, and herself engaged, in 

 many instances, in calmly devouring the host, which she had appar- 

 ently withdrawn from beneath its dome. He had never foimd an egg 

 beneath a scale when it was perforated. Normally the egg is depos- 

 ited underneath the scale, but he had seen some deposited on the bark, 

 but in no instance had he observed that under these conditions they 

 hatched into larva?. He had also found some eggs among the bristles 

 of empty pupae cases. 



Mr. Kotin.sky further remarked that he had been much interested 

 in the note made by Mr. Burgess on the failure of breeding OJiilocorus 

 hivulneruH. In spite of all his efforts for over a year now, he had failed 

 absolutely in obtaining the eggs from this species. Mr. Heideman 



