2 Bulletin of the Brool^lyn Entomological Society Vol. IX 



dropped at random on the bottom of the box, where they rolled 

 loosely about. They were chalky white in color, oblong oval in 

 outline, with the surface minutely granular. Some were dropped 

 on water in a glass, where they floated high and dry; and the 

 next day were overgrown with molds. The others were left in 

 the box, and the box closed that more eggs might be obtained; 

 instead the females ate the eggs already laid, and then began to 

 devour one another. Thus I lost an excellent opportunity for 

 studying the earlier part of the life history of this interesting 

 insect." 



Some interesting speculation on the larva and its habits 

 appears in the literature. Hagen ('61, p. 206) wrote as follows: 

 "Larva perhaps aquatic"; Needham gives the following sug- 

 gestion: "Tire character of the eggs, and the haunts of the 

 females lead me to suppose rather that the larva is terrestrial or 

 arboreal, as in Hemerobius;" and Banks suggests the possibility 

 of this larva being a parasite on some aquatic insect. 



During the summers of 1911, 1912, and 1913, while a member 

 of the staff of instruction of the University of Michigan Biological 

 Station, located on Douglas Lake, in the extreme northern part 

 of the southern peninsula of Michigan, the writer had an op- 

 portunity to make some observations on this interesting insect. 

 The adults of Polystcechotes punctatus were very abundant 

 during late July and the whole of August of the above mentioned 

 years, and were sometimes attracted to light in great numbers. 

 The abundance of adults indicated that this insect must be 

 breeding in the immediate vicinity and the writer expended a 

 considerable amount of energy in trying to discover this breeding 

 place but all in vain. However, after a number of tri?ls he was 

 fortunate enough to secure the early stages of the life history. 

 Lack of knowledge as to the food and food habits of the larva 

 made a completion of the work impossible, and this partial 

 account of the life history is offered with the hope that a descrip- 

 tion of the larva will help some one to recognize it in the field and 

 to determine its food habits, thus making it possible to rear 

 larvae to naturity. 



The Egg. (PI. 0, Fig. 4). Eggs were secured by confining a 

 number of females in a breeding cage. In most cases there was 

 difficulty in obtaining eggs since the females either failed to 



