17 



g-ether with larv;c and pupx', from Aug-ust 21 to 30. Our 

 collections contain no si)ccimens of this species taken later in the 

 year, but as no search of suitable situations has been made in lo- 

 calities where this bill-buj^ is abundant this neg^ative evidence 

 has no special value. It seems probable that the species is 

 sing-le-brooded, with a long- breeding- period extending- through 

 about four months, and that hibernation occurs mainly, if not alto- 

 g-ether, in the imago stag-e. There is, however, nothing definite 

 to show that the beetles emerg-e from their underground quarters 

 before the spring* of the following- year. As other species of bill- 

 bug-s more abundant in ordinary situations \mi having apparently 

 a similar life history do occur abroad in fall, it is likely that Sphe- 

 nophortis ochrcus will be found to have a similar habit. 



Dcsrn'pl/z'C Notes. — A description of what was doubtless the 

 full-g-rown larva of Sphcnophonis ucln-ciis was published by me in 

 the Sixteenth Report of this ofi&ce, pag-e 56, but some descriptive 

 notes made from a living- half-g-rown specimen July 15 may assist 

 in identification. 



Leng-th, extended in crawling, 6 mm. Head lig-ht mahog-any- 

 color, with mouth parts dark brown, almost black. First seg-ment 

 behind the head ting-ed with brown, deepest in the middle. Body 

 thickest just back of the middle, and sloping- somewhat abruptly 

 to the tip of the abdomen, which is provided with a circlet of weak 

 brownish bristles; the two preceding- seg-ments with similar but 

 weaker bristles, f^ateral folds, extending- from the head to the tip 

 of the abdomen, are quite distinct. The color of the skin is dirty 

 white, and sufficiently translucent to show the brownish internal 

 organs. 



The egg- of Sphoiophorns ochreus is 3 mm. long- and about half 

 as wide, swelling- somewhat after it is laid. It is at first decidedly 

 curved, but later assumes an oval form. Color opaque white, with a 

 faint creamy ting-e. Shell transparent, shining-, smooth. 



Sl'IIKNOI'HOKUS I'KKTINAX Ol.IV, 



This beetle is evidently a lowland or swamp species in g-reat 

 part, often breeding-, like the clay-colored bill-bug, in the stems 

 and bulbous roots of coarse semiaquatic veg-etation. Dr. Kellicott 

 reared it repeatedly to the imag-o several years ag-o in July and 

 Aug-ust from larva- and pupir found in New York in the common 

 cat-tail flag-, '/yp/ui liili folia. " The larva cuts an oblicjue burrow 

 near the base of the plant, and pupates in the same.*" Dr. John 



* Letter, December 3, 1888. 



