NORTH AMERICAN GEOTRUPINAE — HOWDEN 287 



which averages about 6 feet in the loose sand! At the opening of the 

 burrow is a large push-up of sand (pi. 18, fig. 1) about 5 inches across 

 and 2 or 3 inches high. At one side of this pile is the burrow entrance, 

 plugged with sand and sloping away from the push-up. (This is 

 radically different from the burrows of other known Geotrupini, 

 which all have the bm-row entrance opening under the center of the 

 push-up.) After descending at an angle for 4 to 6 inches the burrow 

 turns and descends vertically, usually becoming open shortly after 

 the turn. Young (1950) believed this plug of sand near the surface 

 perhaps serves to prevent undue moisture loss in the rather zeric 

 habitat of the high sand ridge. 



The broad burrow, after the initial bend, descends without further 

 turning until it reaches a depth of from 4 to 9 feet, where it bends 

 sharply at almost a right angle. An inch or so after this bend a 

 large cavity 6 or 7 inches long with a maximum diameter of about 

 2 inches is found loosely filled with bits of surface litter. Plate 10, 

 figure 4, shows a diagram of a typical burrow. 



The rather loosely packed cell of surface litter, composed largely 

 of live-oak leaves (Quercus virginiana Miller) and needles and male 

 cones of the sand pine {Pinus clausa (Engelmann) Vasey), contains a 

 single larva. The larval cells are apparently provisioned by the 

 female with any litter near the opening of the burrow. In only two 

 instances were more than one cell found at the end of a burrow. 

 (Young did not mention nor did the writer find a pair of the beetles 

 in any of the burrows.) Apparently the female digs the burrow, 

 provisions a single cell after laying an egg near the terminal end, and 

 then departs, repeating the entire process in a different place. 



The egg hatches a week or so after oviposition, and early larval 

 growth apparently is rather rapid, for many of the larvae are third- 

 stage in April, three months after the earliest adult activity in January. 

 The larvae then remain as third instar for a period of 6 to 8 months. 

 Only third-stage larvae were found in the middle of November, 

 so pupation must occiu* in late November, December, and perhaps 

 January, when some of the adults begin emerging. 



The larva of youngi has one very interesting adaptation to its sandy 

 surroundings. The larva uses its own fecal matter to construct a tube 

 around itself (pi. 18, fig. 2), thus keeping the loose litter and sand 

 from caving in. The flattened anal lobes of the larva are kept applied 

 to the edge of the tube, while the larva, by extending its head and 

 thorax, pulls the litter to its shelter. As the larva grows the tube 

 increases both in length and diameter, until finally, when all the food 

 is consumed, the larva closes the ends, making a cell about 2 inches 

 long by 1 inch in diameter. The tube itself is rather fragile, externally 

 rough, shomng the shape of the individual fecal pellets, and internally 



