92 
patches from them, and gnawing the leaf-stems and e\-en to some 
extent the crown and roots. 
FOOD PLANTS 
The species does not by any means confine its attacks to the 
strawberry plant, but is in fact a very general feeder. The larvae 
are also known to breed freely in the roots of wild strawberry, 
white clover, balsam-root [Balsaiiiorhica sagittata, a western plant), 
Potcntilla glandulosa (another western species), and on timothy, 
June grass, Poa flava {P. serotiiia), and other grasses. We have 
in Illinois two species of Potcntilla, which are common weeds 
closely related to the strawberry, and probably these and numer- 
ous others also serve as food plants for the larv?e. The adult 
beetle is a still more general feeder, eating the leaves of the plants 
whose roots are eaten by it in the larva stage. It also feeds on the 
corn plant, and on several others. Miss Patch gives a list of 54 
species upon wdiich the beetles fed more or less readily when con- 
fined for a period not exceeding three days with the leaves or the 
blossoms. We once found the beetles at the roots of pumpkin. 
LIFE HISTORY 
The species undoubtedly spends the winter as a beetle, and, 
according to Cooley, in the larval stage also. We have found what 
were probably hibernating l)eetles twice in early April, and also in 
October. At the time of the Alpha outbreak, May 26, the larvae, 
which were almost certainly from eggs laid by hibernating beetles, 
had mostly completed their growth and changed to pupae, and a few 
had become adult. From a number of pupae placed in breeding 
cages, adults emerged at frequent intervals thruout June. These 
adults were confined with strawberry plants, and from them a num- 
ber of eggs were secured in the latter part of June. A few weeks 
later the eggs had well-developed larvae within them, and some ap- 
parently hatched, but if so, they failed to develop on the roots of 
the plants, as none could be found, altho a most careful search 
for them was made. 
Cooley had somewhat better results. He collected adults late 
in May, presumably of the hibernating generation, from which he 
was very successful in securing the eggs in June, most of which 
were scattered thru the soil and in the burrows made by the 
adults, and late in June, after a period of about 20 days from the 
laying of the first eggs, a few young larvae were discovered. He 
did not succeed in rearing them, however. These probably repre- 
sented the first larval generation of the year, the dates being a 
little later than those for this generation in central Illinois, but not 
