FALSE WIREWORMS OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST er 
function. Mr. Carl F. Gissler‘ describes this secretion and the 
glands from which it is secreted. 
Many pairs were in coitu on the 17th of April, and on the 21st a 
female that was confined in a pill box laid four eggs. Between the 
21st, and 23d, when the female died, she laid 10 more eggs, which, 
however, failed to incubate. Females dissected in the laboratory 
were found to contain from 92 to 199 eggs. The eggs were found 
to lie on the ventral side of the abdomen and to extend upward 
and over part of the viscera, filling all the interstices about the 
alimentary canal. : The eggs were so crowded in the abdomen that 
they were quite distorted. Anteriorly the eggs were smaller and 
were fastened to the anterior abdominal sclerite by fine filaments. 
The mating season lasted about two weeks, but the adults were in 
evidence throughout May and June. Well-grown larvee were also 
to be found at this time. Many of the adults in the rearing cages, as 
well as two individuals observed in the field, were seen to burrow into 
the ground. This is accomplished by digging with the front tibiz, 
which are expanded and armed with spines for the purpose, the tarsi 
being folded back out of the way. The loose dirt is conveyed back- 
ward by the middle legs and piled up behind the beetle by the hind 
legs. When about one-fourth of an inch of dirt has accumulated the 
beetle backs out of the hole, pushing the earth out with the abdomen, 
the hind legs assisting in this process by keeping the earth piled be- 
hind the abdomen. On examining these burrows two or three eggs 
were found in each. The burrows are filled with earth after the 
beetles come out and are from 4 to 8 inches deep. 
Rearing cages were established by sinking barrels to the surface 
level, fillmg them with earth, and fitting vertically onto the top a 
galvanized-iron cylinder 10 inches in height and the diameter of the 
inside of the barrel top, the open upper end being covered with wire 
mosquito bar, with an introduction hole made in the wire screen and 
corked. 
On April 20 about 30 pairs of mated Eleodes letcheri vandykei were 
placed in this cage, which had previously been seeded with wheat 
and: planted to Polygonum littorale. 
By June 25 the beetles were all dead in the cage, probably due to 
abnormal conditions as well as age, though no living beetles could 
be found in the fields at that time. Small larve 4 to 5 mm. (about 
three-sixteenths inch) in length were then to be found in the cage. 
On examining the cage on November 14 the larvee were found to 
be about 14 mm. (nine-sixteenths inch) in length and at about a depth 
of 12 to 24 inches below the surface. The soil in the rearing cage 
was as dry as powder to a depth of nearly 2 feet, but the desiccation 
did not seem to affect the larve. 

: 1 Psyche, vol. 2, no. 58, 1879, p. 209. 
24335°—Bull. 95, pt 5—12 2 

