106 Annals Entomological Society of America [Vol. XIII, 



where they could be watched and fed. Later, when the larvae 

 became of some size each was transferred to a shallow tin box. 



On April 21 I found another batch of nine eggs in a hollow 

 clover stem. Unfortunately, in my desire to watch these closely 

 I opened the stem and later the eggs became scattered in the 

 cage. Those that I could find, however, hatched about May 7. 

 Another batch of eggs found sometime after deposition hatched 

 May 18. In all, four or five batches of eggs were obtained from 

 these beetles. 



The lives of the larvae placed in vials, and later in tin boxes, 

 were somewhat checkered, as one died within a short time, 

 another after the first molt and a third after the second molt. 

 Three, however, came through but one pupated, without spin- 

 ning a cocoon, on June 8 (I found this to be quite a common 

 occurrence in the tin boxes) and the beetle died without emerging. 

 Another spun a cocoon on June 8 and the adult emerged June 20. 

 This gives a period from egg to adult of 44 or 45 days, depending 

 on whether the eggs hatched May 6 or May 7. A third pupated 

 naked on June 14 and the adult emerged June 20. 



From eggs in another cage found May 5 and that hatched 

 May 18, I isolated three larvae of which one died while two 

 passed through their cycle and both pupated on June 14, while 

 the weevils of both appeared on June 20, only a few hours apart. 

 This would give a cycle of 46 days (from May 5 to June 20) . 



The vicissitudes of breeding experiments are many, especially 

 where an attempt is made to isolate each larva and to rear it 

 under abnormal conditions. If the larvae had been left in the 

 cages in more normal environments they would probably have 

 come through more succsesfully. Indeed, in one of the cages in 

 which I failed to find the eggs and therefore did not remove them 

 the larvae throve much better. In view of the foregoing facts 

 regarding egg-laying and development of the weevils the 

 question of a possible second generation presents itself. 



Riley^ who first investigated this insect in 1881 and '82, says: 

 "This fact, together with the other well-known fact that the 

 Rhynchophora in the imago state are often long-lived and do not 

 begin ovipositing immediately after maturity leads us to believe 

 that there is normally but one annual generation." He qualifies 

 this statement later, however, by saying that "our notes and 

 observations as here recorded would indicate that a second gen- 

 eration may exceptionally occur," and suggests that this might 



