84 PAPERS ON CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECTS. oe 
history, hibernating as mature larve or pup and transformimg to 
adults much earlier in the season than the latter. 
The adults of the species herein treated seem normally to live but 
one season, but Dr. F. E. Blaisdell records keeping a of Eleodes 
dentipes in confinement for over four years. 
NATURAL ENEMIES AND PARASITES: 
The hard chitinous integument, together with the offensive secre- 
tions, of these beetles render them almost immune to attack by 
birds. Several western vesper sparrows (Poawcetes gramineus con- 
fimis), two horned larks (Otocorts alpestris var.), a killdeer plover 
(Oxyechus vociferus), a ‘‘billy”’ owl (Speotyto cuncularia hypogea), 
and a Brewer’s blackbird (Huphagus cyanocephalus) were shot while 
feeding in the grain fields and the stomach contents examined; 
these failed to show any evidence that the birds had fed on adult 
Eleodes. 
Of the domesticated birds, chickens and ducks eat adult Eleodes 
in large numbers. een beetles were fed to one hen and 
were eaten very greedily. Young turkeys would not eat these 
insects. They would seize the beetle and immediately drop it and 
shake the head violently as though they disliked the taste, and 
after two or three similar experiences would learn to recognize these 
insects and would not touch them. 
A large number of these beetles were ted to confined pheasants, 
and though the conditions were very abnormal, the results may be 
suggestive. Reeves pheasant (Phasianus reevesi) and the silver 
pheasant (Gennxus nychthemerus) ate the beetles freely, while the 
golden pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus) and the Lady Amherst pheas- 
ant (Chrysolophus amherst) refused even to notice the beetles. 
However, these birds seemed quite annoyed by our presence, and 
might have eaten the beetles had they not been frightened. No 
Chinese pheasants (Phasianus torquatus) were available, so we can 
not say whether or not these birds would be of any value as enemies 
of Eleodes. 
From several sources we were informed that the sage hen (Centro- 
cercus urophasianus) feeds largely on these beetles, the crop at times 
being gorged with the black chitinous fragments. In the records of 
the Bureau of Biological Survey of this department the following 
birds are listed as feeding more or less extensively on adult Eleodes: 
California shrike (Lanius ludovicianus gambeli), road-runner (Geococcyx california- 
nus), Lewis’s woodpecker (Asyndesmus lewisi), western crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos 
hesperis), bronzed grackle (Quiscalus quiscula xneus), red-headed woodpecker ( Mela- 
nerpes erythrocephalus), curve-billed thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre), hairy wood- 
pecker (Dryobates villosus var.), western mocking bird (Mimus polyglottos leucop- 
terus), western robin (Planesticus migratorius propinquus), the field plover (Bartramia 
longicauda), the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), and the baldpate (Mareca americana). 
