318 



THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



warm days the female (Fig. 1, d) lays her clusters of orange eggs 

 (Fig. 1, a), sometimes to the number of a thousand a single 

 beetle which I confined laid over eleven hundred eggs, either 

 on the under side of the leaves of the potato vines, or on 

 blades of grass or other vegetables near by. 



These soon hatch, when the young or larvse (Fig. 1, #) are 

 found to eat quite as voraciously as the mature beetle. In 

 about fifteen days the young become fully developed, when 



FlQ 1. a, Eggs. 6, Larva, c, Pupa, d, linage, e, Wing-cover, magnified. /, Leg. 



they pass into the ground to pupate (Fig. 1, c). After about 

 ten days of such quiet they come forth in the beetle state, and 

 from their freshness it might be thought that the old-time 

 beetles had been absent to get a new suit, and had just re- 

 turned to show their finery. 



These beetles, with their bright bands of yellow and black, 

 mate, deposit eggs, and soon die, behaving in all respects as be- 

 fore. So, too, the larvae and pupae. These again are followed 

 by a third brood, which completes the ruinous work of the sea- 

 son; but the pupae of this last brood do not come forth in ten 

 days, nor do they die ; but, resting quietly beneath the earth, 

 seem to be gathering strength for a miserable repetition of the 

 previous year's abomination. 



WILL THEY REMAIN WITH Us ? It is hoped by many that 

 these incorrigible pests will not be long among us, reasoning from 

 analogy, as many insects (like the Hessian fly) have been quite 



