pollen from the tassel, or sometimes of the soft kernels, especially if 
these have been exposed by any injury to the husks. They also spread 
to various blossoming weeds in the field, and after a time begin to desert 
the corn field, scattering elsewhere for food. It is Commonly towards 
the last of August that they are first noticeably frequent on thistle 
blossoms, heads of clover, and other outside blooming plants. They do 
not, however, leave the corn fields generally for some time thereafter, 
but may be found there in greatly diminished numbers at least as late 
-as the middle of October.* 
How soon after pairing their eggs are laid we do not new know; 
neither has the process of oviposition ever been directly witnessed. The 
frequent occurrence of dead female beetles (in October and November) 
. inthe earth in corn fields in the midst of the eggs, and the distribution 
of the eggs themselves is, however, sufficient evidence that the beetle 
enters the earth to lay her eggs, and that she may perish there after her 
ovaries are spent. Although the eggs of this beetle have never been 
found outside of corn fields, notwithstanding extensive search in many 
other situations, it is certain that the eggs are not necessarily all laid 
before the female leaves the field in which she emerged. I have, on the 
contrary, frequently proven by dissection of beetles taken from flowers 
by roadsides, in meadows, and the like, that females thus dispersed may 
still contain eggs in large numbers. A considerable part of the beetles, 
and apparently the greater part, do, however, lay their eggs under ordi- 
nary circumstances before they leave the field of corn; and it is also 
highly probable on general grounds that those which go elsewhere in 
search of food return to corn fields for oviposition. Since the larva is 
not known to infest any other plant than corn, or, indeed, to be capable 
of living upon any other, it is altogether likely that the female instinc- 
tively searches out the corn plant when seeking a place of deposit for 
her eggs. 
As this is a surmise or inference, however, and not a matter of 
observation, it remains possible that if the corn root worm is neglected 
_ it may in time accumulate in such numbers as no longer to confine its 
chief injuries to fields previously in corn, but that the beetles, forced 
to scatter early, in search of food, from the fields in which they emerge 
will deposit their eggs freely everywhere in the ground, instead of being 
confined as now chiefly to corn fields. It is probably in fields of clover 
that this is most likely to occur, since the beetles sometimes become 
abundant there, feeding upon the pollen of the second growth. 
The depth at which the eggs are laid varies from an inch to five or 
six inches, the greater part of them being near the surface of the ground. 
They are usually deposited in bunches of three or four to eight or ten, 
within a space of half an inch across, not in contact with each other, 
nor in any cell or cavity, but always simply scattered in the earth. Most 
* The following is a list of dates, precisely recorded in my office collection 
records, for the occurrence of this beetle: 
In corn fields. July 19 (pairing), 21, 27, 28; August 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 12, 18, 17 
(pairing), 18, 19,6215 022) 95 (pairine), 27 3 September 4, -7; 9) 115 112, 16: 27 25 
(pairing), October 1, 7, 138, 14, 18; November 1, 7. 
Outside corn fields. March 14, (1888); August 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 29; 
September 4, 7, 13, 15, 16, 22; October 1, 3, 10, 13, 16, 18; November 2, 24; De- 
cember 1, 16. 
