140 
reports the finding of the pupa itself in the earth June 29. On the. 
other hand, larvee | ready for pupation haye occurred in our collections 
as late as August 26—giving a period of something over two months for 
the pupation of an entire generation. 
The extreme dates definitely fixed for the next transformation— 
the emergence of the beetle—are June 25 for the earliest* and not 
earlier than August 31 for the last—again a period of something more 
than two months. We have seen the beetles copulating at various dates 
from July 19 to September 25,—an interval of two months and six 
days,—observations which probably ix approximately the beginning and 
the end of oviposition. The eggs, however, were not all laid by October 
1, 1882, as I determined by dissecting females at the time. For the 
present we may assign August 1 and October 5 as the average dates for 
the first and last deposit of eggs 
The recognition of this ‘eight or nine weeks’ period for the passage 
of the whole of a brood from one stage to another, enables us to say 
with some assurance that the eggs laid during this long interval in one 
year will hatch through a corresponding interval the year following— 
approximately from May 15 to July 15, or a little later. While these 
dates are, some of them, inferred, there is no doubt of the extension 
of each stage of the development over as long a period as that here 
given ; namely, two months to nine weeks. We have no precise observa- 
tions concerning the length of fe of any individual in any one stage; 
neither do we know the number of eggs laid by each female, except 
as an inference from dissections. I have counted as many as fifty well- 
formed eggs of nearly full size in the ovaries of a single female beetle. 
HABITS OF BEETLE AND LARVA. 
The growing larve remain concealed from view within the roots, 
burrowing, not through the middle but nearer the surface, in a slightly 
sinuous longitudinal ‘direction, sometimes from the stalk outwards, but 
more frequently mining inwards from the outer end of the root. They 
have considerable power of locomotion when removed from their burrows, 
and seem capable of going from one root to another. Indeed, the fact 
that they must concentrate in hills of corn after hatching, demonstrates 
their power of locomotion when still very young.t It is altogether 
hkely, consequently, that if a hill of corn is killed by them before they 
have reached maturity, they will be entirely able to search out another. 
When full grown they leave the root preliminary to pupation, 
shortening up and changing to the pupa stage in the dirt close by. At 
this time they may often be found in consider ‘able numbers by pulling 
up infested corn and shaking out the dirt from the roots. The beetles 
emerge from the pupa under ground, and, coming to the surface, most 
commonly crawl up the stalk of corn adjacent. When recently trans- 
formed they are of a pale yellowish color, with scarcely a tinge of green. 
Their first food consists, as already mentioned, of the softer tissties of 
the corn plant itself, especially of the silk at the tip of the ear, or the 
* On Dr. Boardman’s authority. 
7 Although their thoracic legs are very short, they are nevertheless functional, 
and the hinder end of the body is provided with a kind of anal proleg, which serves 
as an aid to locomotion. 
