11 



effect, since corn rarely suckers when thus cut back. On grass, on 

 account of its small diameter, the beetles nearly always sever the 

 attacked stem. 



LIFE HISTORY. 



The female beetle does not appear to attack the stalk, primarily at 

 least, for the purpose of obtaining food, but in order that the cane 

 may be deadened and the roots may soften and decay so as to afford 

 a place for the young larva> to live and feed. The female, after cut- 

 ting the hole in the stalk, burrows down among the young rootlets 

 alongside the stalk, sometimes going beneath the old stalks of mother 

 cane, and there deposits an egg. It was not possible to ascertain the 

 number of eggs laid by a single beetle. Under natural conditions 

 the beetles appear to always lay the egg after having made the cut in 

 the stalk. Usually but one egg was found for each cut in a cane stalk, 

 but some instances were discovered where there were two or more 

 and in one case ten. The case where the ten eggs were found was in 

 stubble cane, a large clump having but a single sprout growing from 

 it. Some stalks were found that had been attacked by beetles as 

 many as six times, and in one there were four of the cuts that reached 

 to the center or beyond. No attempt was made to ascertain the exact 

 number of eggs contained in the ovaries of the female, but from 

 those examined I should judge it woidd exceed a hundred. Eggs of 

 this beetle were first found in the ground April 28, but the size of 

 young larva? present at that time in the cane fields — which I could not 

 distinguish from those later hatched from the cane beetle eggs — 

 would show that the egg-laying period begins much earlier. 



The egg of Lu/yrus riigiceps is pure white, shining, smooth, pol- 

 ished, globular, 0.75 mm. in diameter, and does not appear to differ 

 from the egg of Chalepus trachypygus^ Ligyrus gibhosKS, or (Jyclo- 

 cephala immaculata except in size. It is slightly smaller than the 

 eggs of the first species mentioned, somewhat larger than the second, 

 and nearly twice the size of the last. 



The young larva* begin to show in the egg the third day after 

 deposition, but the time of emergence varies greatly, from six to fif- 

 teen days being required in those under observation in the field. Hot, 

 moist soil hastens their development, while cold soil with either ex- 

 cessive wet or dry weather retards it, and cold, wet weather even 

 causes some larva^ to die in the egg. 



The larva on emerging makes but a small cut and then splits the 

 shell open by movements of the head and body. The newly hatched 

 larva is almost transparent ; the anal end is densely white, while the 

 head and appendages (except the white palpi and the black tips of the 

 mandibles) , the tips of legs, and the first thoracic segment are dark 

 brown. Young larvse hatching from eggs lying on top of the soil in a 



