LEPIDIOTA FEENCIII. 49 



■with food were alive. Three of the dead beetles were packed full of 

 ripe eggs. When, the food was daily changed it was found to be sparsely 

 nibbled. 



30th December, the beetle in cage No. 1 had laid seven more eggs. 

 Beetle dead in cage No. 4; total eggs twenty-three. 



6th January, 1921, beetle in cage No. 1 dead ; total eggs laid twenty- 

 two. Dissecting this specimen, five ripe eggs were found in the ovaries. 

 The beetle in cage No. 5 with food was also dead; she had thirty ripe 

 eggs in the ovaries ; none had been laid during her confinement of 

 thirty-four days; possibly the small space upset her. 



10th January, the beetles dead in the remaining cages, with no 

 eggs in the soil, though dissection showed large complements in the 

 ovaries. The longest life in confiuement with food was 'SS days, average 

 25-66 days; without food, average 17-83 days. 



Numerous experiments along this same line were carried out by 

 Mr. Dodd, but the general results were not very different. The nvimber 

 of eggs obtained was very small ; but dissection of the beetles indicated 

 that they must have laid their first set before capture. Still, as several 

 of the dead beetles when dissected, and that had not laid at all in 

 confinement, were full of ripe eggs, it must be presumed that the 

 unnatural conditions were felt by them. Confined conditions cause 

 them to retain their eggs, and they may die still withholding them. 

 The eggs were all fertile, even those laid right up to death ; therefore 

 the absence of the male does not interfere with their development. 

 Confined space did not appear to have any influence on the length of 

 life. The last beetle died 55 days after capture, and had been eating 

 up to within a few days of death. 



The difference in the length of life of those supplied with food and 

 those starved is not great. The average for the former was 38 days, 

 for the latter 29-3 days. Thus, apparently unlike Lepidodcrma 

 ulhohirtum, the adults of this species that have once fed can live for a 

 long period when starved, and successfully develop eggs. Hence this 

 may have an important bearing upon their distribution, as has been 

 suggested above. 



In order to learn how the eggs were deposited under natural 

 conditions, I employed the same method that I used for the greybacks. 

 Two gravid females were collected at the end of the morning flight, in 

 a canefield, and placed in a large cage in the garden and supplied with 

 males. They at once entered the soil. In the evening I watched the 

 cage, and was rewarded by seeing the beetles emerge from the soil about 

 7 p.m. At the same time several males arose from the grass near-by 

 and clustered around the cage. 



After three days I examined the soil under the cage for eggs, with 

 very satisfactory results. A trench was first dug outside the cage, and 

 the soil was gradually shaved off the face of this until I found eggs 

 at a depth of 8 inches. Each egg was in a well-defined, tiny oval cavity, 

 about 5 millimetres long and less in width. The ten eggs in this set 

 were placed rather close together, some of the cavities being not more 

 than ^ inch apart. 



About 6 inches away I came upon another small set, at about the 

 same depth. In this case I could find only five eggs. It is a very 

 difficult matter to find the eggs, especially if the soil is damp, for each 

 egg is enclosed in a small pellet of earth al^out ^ inch in diameter. 



