July, '07] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 271 



distance from Urbana. Here again the larvae were remark- 

 ably local in distribution, the distribution being far less ex- 

 tensive than that of their food plant. These facts seem to show 

 that these beetles spread very slowly and this is probably the 

 reason why the species is not more evenly and more abundantly 

 distributed in this country, although in Europe they are some- 

 times quite common and in some cases they have been very 

 destructive. 



My attention was first attracted to this insect in the spring 

 of 1905, when larvae were found on Phlox divaricata at Urbana 

 and Muncie, Illinois. In 1906 larvae were also collected at these 

 two places as well as the other places mentioned above. 



I have worked out all the essential details of the life history. 

 There is but one brood a year. Briefly, the eggs hatch during 

 April or early in May. The young larvae feed on the leaves 

 of phlox and become full grown during the latter half of May. 

 They enter the earth to pupate, and emerge as adult beetles 

 early in June. The beetles also feed more or less on the leaves 

 or stems of phlox during the entire season, and feed at night ; 

 during most of the day they remain hidden under leaves at 

 the base of the plant. About the middle of August they begin 

 to pair, and to lay eggs. The beetles gradually die off, leaving 

 the eggs to survive the winter. 



The following details of the life-history were obtained last 

 summer in the insectary. Larvae were first found April 27 on 

 phlox along the north edge of a wood, at the outskirts of Ur- 

 bana. Most of these larvae measured about l /% inch in length, 

 two of them, however, measuring about 3/16 inch, and they 

 were probably but a few days old. At this stage they fed only 

 on the epidermal parts of the leaf, but as they increased in size 

 they ate the entire leaf. On May 4 and 10, at Muncie, larvae 

 of all sizes were found, some being l / 2 inch in length. Other 

 larvae were collected at Homer, May 14 and 16, and at Ur- 

 bana again, May 22. The larvae grew to a length of about l / 2 

 to ^ inch and by May 14 they had begun to disappear into the 

 earth to pupate. In the insectary, larvae were found above the 

 earth as late as May 26. The larvae would dig ^ to 1 inch 

 into the soil and there form a cocoon consisting of a few silken 



