418 



BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Life History or Calosoma frigidum Kirby. 



Oviposition. — The eggs are laid at intervals of a few days 

 from early June until about the first of September, the 

 length of this period depending somewhat on the weather. 

 Soon after pairing, which takes from one to two and one- 

 half minutes, the female beetle seeks the ground. The eggs 

 are deposited from one-eighth to two inches below the sur- 

 face, and are often laid at night. They are dropped sep- 

 arately, without any regularity of arrangement. The 

 greatest number of eggs deposited by a single female in 

 twenty-four hours was seventeen. 



The following table shows the record of the pairing and 

 egg-laying of nine female imagoes of O. frigidum. The 

 jars in which the Ijeetles were confined were examined 

 daily, but the days when no eggs were found have been 

 omitted from the table. The figures indicate the number of 

 eggs found; the sign " X " indicates that the beetles were 

 observed to copulate; the "?" indicates that a greater 

 number of Qf^u:s, than are here recorded were doubtless 

 originally deposited in the jar, l)ut that upon hatching a 

 part of the young grubs were probal)ly consumed by the 

 older larv^. The figures in these cases give the number of 

 larvae actually found in the jars at the time of examination. 



* Laid well while the weather was hot and food plenty. 



t No eggs laid after male died. 



\ Although seven weeks together no eggs were laid. 



§ No eggs laid until male was received. 



II Male feeble when put in. 



