159 



July 8th and that pupation ceases before the last of July. In 

 the year that the observations were made all the beetles had is- 

 sued by the 23rd of August and for a few weeks thereafter only 

 the biennial larvae occupied the ground. As the new generation 

 of larvae does not begin to leave the nuts and enter the ground 

 until October, the 70 larvae that were found in the ground from 

 August 1st to August 28th must have been hold-over individuals 

 that would not have changed to beetles until another year. 



The beetles of this species are comparatively sluggish in 

 their movements and are rarely seen in flight. In ovipositing, 

 the female secures a foothold among the spines of the bur and 

 proceeds to drill a hole which extends directly through all the 

 coverings that envelop the forming kernel. When the kernel is 



reached she withdraws her 

 snout, turns around and inserts 

 her ovipositor in the opening 

 and passes an egg to the bottom 

 where it reposes in the silken 

 fiber immediately surrounding 

 the kernel. After the egg is de- 

 . posited the beetle crawls away 

 and pays no further attention 

 to the puncture. One female was observed to spend 56 minutes 

 in the acts attending the deposition of a single egg. 



The attack may be made at any point on the surface of the 

 bur but perhaps occurs more frequently near the stem. If the 

 bur is opened after the egg is placed and the nut removed the 

 egg may usually be seen through the opening in the shell. This 

 slight wound in the shell soon heals over, however, and shows 

 only as an obscure scar in the ripe nut. 



When the larva is full grown it gnaws a circular hole, one- 

 eighth of an inch in diameter, through the shell and escapes. This 

 species breeds in chinquapins, native chestnuts and in the im- 

 ported chestnuts which are now being grown in this country. 



