250 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. i04 i 



At Mills River on July 30, 1951, a burrow was found under an old 

 dried piece of cow dung at the edge of the woods in a well-shaded I 

 spot. The ground was extremely hard and rocky, making digging | 

 difficult. At a depth of 7% inches the bmTOW, which had been open 

 its entire length, took a sharp bend. There, a female egeriei was dis- 

 covered still pacldng a larval cell with dung. The cell, about 2K 

 inches long and containing an oval yellowish white egg similar to that 

 pictured for hlackburnii (pi. 14, fig. 2), was carefully removed, placed 

 in a metal salve box, and taken indoors. The first instar emerged on 

 August 7; by August 18 the larva was second instar, and by September 

 10 was a third instar. The larva was preserved on September 24. 

 The rapid growth of the larva, while not too unusual for the genus, 

 probably was considerably accelerated by warm room temperatures 

 and should not be considered typical. Under more normal conditions 

 it would seem likely that the larva would have overwintered as a 

 second or early third instar. However, this cannot be substantiated 

 at present. 



It should also be mentioned here that other larval cells might have 

 been present at a greater depth, but as there was no indication that 

 this was the case, digging was discontinued. Usually it was always 

 deemed advisable to dig 6 to 12 inches below the visible end of a bur- 

 row, as multiple larval cells had sometimes been found at the end of a 

 burrow (this being particularly true of European species). 



At Interlachen, Fla., on Nov. 17, 1951, a pair of egeriei was taken 

 in a burrow at a depth of 40 inches. The beetles had a small wad of 

 cow dung, about 1 inch in length, packed in the end of the burrow, 

 but no egg was found. A second burrow was noted and upon exca- 

 vation yielded, at a depth of 20 inches, a female egeriei with a com- 

 pleted larval cell of old cow dung about 2}^ inches long by 1 inch wide. 

 An egg was found in a small cavity one-half inch from the terminal 

 end of the wad. The egg, ^^^th the food supply, was placed in a metal 

 salve box. On this occasion digging was continued to a depth of 3 

 feet and the hole was considerably enlarged, but no other cells were 

 found, nor was a male present. (The males of European species of 

 Geotrupes have often been credited with aiding the females in pro- 

 visioning the larval cells, but I did not note any similar case of co- 

 operation in North American species.) 



The egg was brought indoors, at Raleigh, and it increased from 4.2 to 

 4.7 mm. in length and from 2.3 to 3.2 mm. in width before hatching 

 occurred on Dec. 2, 1951. As the larva was indoors and not subject 

 to the winter temperatures, development was rapid. The larva be- 

 came a small third instar by mid-February at which time it died. 



From the sketchy information available, it appears that Geotrupes 

 egeriei has a 2-year life cycle at least in the North Carolina mountains. 



