10 ; 
Tife history.—The life history as worked out by Mr. Webster is 
briefly as follows: The yellowish eggs in large batches are thrust in 
eracks of the bark of the old wood, usually well above ground, as 
many as 700 having been counted on a single vine. Very rarely are 
they placed in cracks in the soil about the base of the vine, but so 
loosely are they attached to the bark that they not infrequently fall 
to the ground. The larvee, on hatching, fall clumsily to the ground, 
and quickly disappear in cracks in the soil, chiefly near or just at the 
base of the vine. They feed at first on the fibrous roots near the 
point of entrance, but soon reach the larger roots, and completely 
denude them of bark, gradually extending outward through the soil 

Fic.5.—Fidia viticida. a, beetle; b,eggs represented natural size under fold of bark and much 
enlarged at side; c, young larva; d, full-grown larva; e, pupa; f,injury to leaf by beetles; g, 
injury to roots by larvee—b (in part) and f and g natural size, rest much enlarged (original). 
a 
to a distance of at least 3 feet, and downward to a depth of at least 1 
foot. Most of them reach full growth by the middle of August, 
attaining a length of nearly half an inch, and construct little cavities 
or earthen cells in the soil, in which they hibernate until June of the 
following year, when they change to pupe. 
The beetles emerge about two weeks after pupation, and begin to 
feed from the upper surface of the leaves. With thin-leafed grapes 
they eat the entire substance of the leaf, but with thick-leafed varie- 
ties the downy lower surface is left, giving the foliage a ragged, skel- 
etonized look. They feed on any cultivated grape, also on the wild 
grapes, which have probably been their food from time immemorial. 
