104 
took their flight. Probably in a clearer place they would make longer 
flights. 
The Hgg.—Some of the species begin to lay their eggs in the earth 
early in June, and this operation is in progress for about a month. The 
eggs are placed from an inch to three inches beneath the surface, each 
enclosed separately in a cavity just large enough to hold it, several, how- 
ever, being frequently placed near each other, but never, according to 
our observations, in a common cell. There appears in no case any spe- 
cial preparation of the soil or chamber containing the egg, the statement 
commonly made to the effeet that the eggs are laid in a ball of earth be- 
ing clearly erroneous. ‘The eggs are oblong-oval when first deposited, 
but soon swell by absorption to a nearly spheric: al form. ‘The males be- 
gin to die not long after pairing, and the females also perish as their 
ovaries are spent. The eggs hatch in from ten to eighteen days, ac- 
cording to our experiments. As the data upon which these statements 
are based are few, they may profitably be given in some detail. 
Our earliest observations on this subject were made June 28, 1889, 
when some transparent white eggs were found among the roots of corn 
on the University premises, about an inch and a half below the sur- 
face. The ground was sags ae from weeds and grass. ‘These eges, 
kept in earth in a breeding cage, hatched July 11 as unmistakable white 
grubs, but whether of the eenus Lachnosterna or C yelocephala it is not 
now possible to say. In 1890, thirty-seven specimens of L. inversa ob- 
tained from, the earth by following the plow in corn fields and grass 
lands at various dates from April 2 to 29 were confined in a breeding 
cage with an abundanee of sod. On the 8th of May three of these 
beetles had emerged from the earth in the breeding cage, and they were 
thereafter fed with leaves of oak, elm, and chestnut, all of which they 
freely ate. By the 17th of the month the abdomens of the female were 
much swollen and full of well-developed eggs, as determined by dissec- 
tion, but no eggs were to be found as yet in the earth. May 26 and 
81 and June 4 a thorough search of the eage showed that oviposition 
had not yet begun, but on the 45th of June se 1. dozen eges were de- 
posited, and next day many were found, each i its separate cavity, as 
above described. Males began to die June 6, in “this breeding cage, and 
the first female died on the 14th of June, her ovaries being spent, as 
shown by dissection. No eggs had hatched June 21, although those iso- 
lated for observation were advanced in development, showing the out- 
lines of the larva within. On the 28d the first one hatched, and re- 
cently extruded eggs were also found; and on the 28th the breeding 
cage still contained, besides young grubs, well-developed eggs apparently 
about to disclose the young. ‘The beetles had in fact not yet all perished, 
although those alive were sluggish and apparently about to die. 
The next year (1891) beetles (L. inversa) alae May 18 and 
19 at lights and from the earth were placed in a barrel of earth, itself 
sunk into the ground, and eggs were obtained June 1, daneetiad singly 
as before. 
A similar experiment with adults of LZ. hirticula was started April 
8, 1890, and here also the first two beetles emerged the 8th of May, 
On the 25th of June no eggs were to be found, but on the 28th eggs 
were first discovered—of a shape to indicate their recent extrusion. 
