136 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION. 



DESCRIPTIONS AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



The general appearance of the adult beetle is well shown in the 

 sccompanying photographs, (see Plate I, figs, i and 2). Ihcs-^ 

 photographs are greatly enlarged but the- beetle is also shown in 

 T'atural size above and to the right of figure i. When f.rst em- 

 erged tlie beetles are light brown in color but they soon take on a 

 permanent brownish black. The antennae are elbowed and are 

 slightly enlarged at the very tip. The shell of the beetL- is vcr}- 

 hard. 



IMost beetles have a pair of wings folded beneath the h?,ru horny 

 wingcovers that overlie the abdomen or posterior part of the body,. 

 but in the case of the beetle in question no wings are present and 

 The wing-covers are grown together in such a way that they could 

 ■not be raised as in flight if the wings were present. The beetle 

 therefore is as incapable of flight as a toad and for locomotion is 

 dependent on walking or on outside agencies. 



The adults are nocturnal in habits and gregar'nii?. When dis- 

 turbed they draw in their legs and play 'possum. 



(3n examining the earth around strawberry plants afifected with the 

 adult beetles one finds small open holes that lead into the earth to- 

 ward the roots. Carefully following these holes with a straw or the 

 point of a knife blade the beetles may be found often in considerable 

 numbers. These holes often follow the stems of leaves of plants 

 that are newly set, being often just under and parallel with the 

 stems. Other holes follow down under small clods of soil or other 

 objects. Other beetles may be found under partly covered leave.? 

 and many may be found scattered through the soil about the root'^ 

 Among old plants they often crawl down into the crown where the 

 new and old leaf-stems arise. In all such places they spend the day^ 

 C'jming out to feed during the night. 



It appears that the beetles are more or less dependent upon food 

 in order that they ma}' develop ova. Our investigations have shown 

 ] lainly that the beetles crawl about in the soil for the purpose of 

 scattering their eggs. On our potted plants used for studying the 

 beetles we found some eggs on the surface of the soil and a few even 

 on the under surface of the leaves, but we believe that the normal 

 place for egg deposition is in the soil. The soil in the pots was 

 harder than is natural for out-of-door conditions and some of the 



