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PHYTODECTA VIMINALIS, A _ VIVIPAROUS 
BRITISH BEETLE. 
By C. B. Wiuttams, B.A., F.E.S. 
On May llth, 1918, adults and larve of Phytodecta 
(Gonioctena) viminalis were found in numbers on some sallow 
bushes in the New Forest. A close search was made for eggs 
but none were found, although quite young larve, apparently 
just hatched, were common. A female was then found which 
seemed to be ovipositing, but on the leaf were only a group of 
very small orange larve, nor was there any trace of egg-shells, 
though it was indicated from the uneaten condition of the leaf that 
they had onlyjust hatched. The latter observation in particular 
suggested so strongly the possibility of viviparity that numbers 
of the adults were brought back for closer examination. It was 
then found that the surmise was correct, and females were 
watched in captivity and were seen to lay small orange-coloured 
larvee quite free of any shell or enveloping membrane. Further, 
on dissection of females about to lay, many similar young larve 
were found quite free of any shell in the lower part of the ovary 
and oviduct. 
Viviparity has been recorded in the allied genus Orina by 
various writers; in QO. vittigera, O. cacalie, and O. gloriosa by 
Chapman and Champion (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1901, p. 1-7), in 
O. superba and O. speciosa by Perroud (Ann. Soc. Linn. de Lyon, 
1855, p. 402-8), and in O. speciosa var. venusta by Bleuze 
(Petites Nouvelles Entomol. October 1st, 1874, and Ent. Mo. Mag. 
xi. 1874, p. 186), but so far as I am aware it has not been recorded 
in the genus Phytodecta or in any British beetle. According to 
Perroud OQ. superba only lays one larva at a time at intervals of 
about twelve hours, so that this species differs slightly from the 
one under consideration. 
The only account of the life-history of Phytodecta viminalis 
is by Cornelius in 1857 (Stett. Ent. Zeit. xviii. p. 165). In the 
specimens he observed, however, eggs were laid which hatched 
on the first day. He describes the eggs as reddish in colour 
and cylindrical, slightly pointed at the ends. It would appear, 
then, that the same species can, under different conditions, be 
either viviparous or oviparous. 
The life-history of the beetle is as follows :— 
The adults emerge from hibernation towards the end of 
April (three were found on April 19th, 1914). Both sexes are 
very active in the sunshine, and in the early part of May pair 
many times. They have a habit of sitting at the base of a leaf 
with the head pressed right into the axil; this has also been 
observed in the allied South European species P. variabilis by 
Bateson (Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1895, p. 850). They fall to the 
ground if disturbed. They eat readily the leaves of the rough 
ENTOM.—SEPTEMBER, 1914. * 
