89 



fatiiijj- out channels up the stalk, frec^uentl}' up to the seed leaves. 

 The beetles were veiy injurious to apple bloom, and doubtless aided 

 much in the general distribution of pear blight that has occurred in 

 Georgia this rear. 



T.ABORATORY OBSERVATIONS. 



Egg laying was repeatedly observed in the breeding cages. In ovi- 

 positing the stylus-like ovipositor is pushed down into the soil to a 

 depth of from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch, where it is held 

 until the egg is forced down the extensible oviduct and out at the 

 opening at the base of the ovipositor. This requires usually but a few 

 seconds, and after moving a short distance another egg may be depos- 

 ited. The writer has observed a beetle thus deposit fifteen eggs in 

 quick succession. Occasionall}^ the ground is found too hard for pen- 

 etration, when another trial is made. Ordinarily but one egg seems to 

 be deposited in one place, but occasionally two to four may be found 

 together. In close quarters, as in a vial, or even under a medium-sized 

 lamp chimney, twenty to thirty eggs have been found together in a 

 mass. An individual gravid beetle confined by itself usually deposits 

 the majority, if not all, of its eggs in a few hours, and my observations 

 as a whole incline me to believe that a beetle normally will deposit its 

 eggs in the course of one or two days. 



Many dissections of gravid beetles show that the number of eggs 

 ma}" vary from ti2 to 87, with an average of about T.-i. 



Eggs secured March 14 hatched April ll; eggs secured March 29 

 hatched April 20, and eggs secured April 24: hatched May 10. The 

 variation is doubtless due to the dift'erence in temperature. Just- 

 hatched larvfe are quite agile and make their way readily through the 

 soil. Larvffi placed on the roots of corn plant in one end of a root 

 cage, after the destruction of the corn, made their way through the 

 soil to a plant in the other end of the cage, 10 inches distant. Larvte 

 may also descend some 8 or 10 inches below the soil, searching for 

 food, as was witnessed at diflerent times in the root cages. 



The larva; hatched from eggs, previously mentioned, on April 11, 

 pupated May 12, spending five to seven days in the earthen cell before 

 pupating. The adults appeared May 21, the life cycle in this case 

 extending over a period of about nine weeks. 



In another batch bred through eggs secured April 25, hatched May 

 8, the larva? pupating May 27, adults appeared June f). thus extending 

 over a period of forty-one days, or about six weeks. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH MEANS OF CONTROL. 



Two areas were chosen of about one-half acre each, on low" and 

 moist soil, on which to test the effect of different methods of planting 

 and the effect of the use of different insecticidal substances. Each 

 area was divided into 27 ])lats, and treatment for the two areas, plat 



