13 
same date and grown in the same conditions were found 
to vary in size from eight to fourteen mm. in the course of 
one month and twenty-four days. Under more moist con- 
ditions the. variation was not more than three m. m. 
With such variability it is unsafe to draw any conclusion 
from so small a number of, rearings. The inference seems 
however permissible that in the earlier stages of growth 
an excess of moisture retards considerably the growth of 
the larve if it is not actually injurious to its life. 
Compared with the larval stage the egg and pupal 
stages are remarkably short and hardly subject to any 
variation. Whatever the length of larval life: the pupal 
stage does not take more than a week and this must be of 
great advantage to the species seeing that pupation takes. 
place after the rains have commenced, and that the mud 
chamber is not sufficient protection for the naked pupa 
inside. So too with the eggs which are laid loose in the 
soil never deeper than one inch which is thus practically 
unprotected against enemies. 
The extreme variability of the larve with regard to 
the period of growth is probably an adjustment to the con- 
ditions in which they have to live and thrive. It has al- 
ready been seen that beetles may lay eggs as early as Au- 
cust, in the necessarily artificial conditions of the labora- 
tory. Inthe field they may lay eggs any time during the 
first five months of the year as beetles caught on different 
dates throughout the period commenced egg laying soon 
after they were caught. The larve from all these lay- 
ings cannot pupate until the rains after summer. As has 
already been seen a certain amount of moisture is required 
‘for the larve to pupate. Furthermore, beetles emerging 
too early will have considerable difficulty to find in the 
hot weather the decaying vegetable matter on which 
mostly they feed. The pupation at or about the time of the 
first rains appears therefore to be an adjustment to the con- 
ditions which enables the beetles to find the food they 
require inabundance. It is therefore natural to conclude 
that at whatever time the eggs are laid whether in Decem- 
ber or late in May the larve hatching out of them must 
grow sufficiently rapidly to enable them to pupate before 
the soil is too wet for pupation and emergence. 
While the conclusions drawn above are not to be ac- 
cepted as anything else than the interpretation of Insec- 
tary results, they appear to be justified both from obser- 
vations in Mysore and from observations made in Java 
a 
