366 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XL VI. No. 1189 



by Dr. Peters whicli Mr. Knobel lias subse- 

 quently revised and amended. 



Benjamin Boss 

 Dudley Obsbevatobt, 

 Albany, N. T. 



FIVE YEARS OF STARVATION OF 



The specimens concerned are tbe larvse of 

 Trogoderma tarsale, a small beetle well known 

 as a museum pest. The last of a large num- 

 ber of specimens lived, without a particle to 

 eat, for the suprisingly long period of five 

 years, one month and twenty-nine days or, to 

 be more specific, from October 28, 1911, to 

 December 25, 1916, a period of 1,884 days. 

 The case is decidedly outstanding, as to my 

 knowledge, nothing similar has ever been re- 

 corded as a result of starvation experiments 

 with other animals. It is very probable that 

 under otherwise non-disturbing conditions 

 the starving larvse would have lived for even 

 a longer period. The specimens concerned 

 in this article had undergone considerable 

 disturbance after the first two years of starv- 

 ation, since many of the larvse made the trip 

 between Idaho and Wisconsin with me three 

 or four times, and several of them covered 

 the distance five times. The trips one way 

 varied in duration from four to seven days. 

 There is no doubt but that the jarring of the 

 train had accelerated the metabolism of the 

 larvffi. This fact was evinced by the moulting 

 of practically every individual toward the end 

 of the trip or within a few days after it, and 

 by the decided decrease in the dimensions of 

 the larvse immediately following such a moult. 

 Larvse placed under starvation shortly after 

 my arrival in Idaho in the summer of 1913, 

 which have not been so disturbed, show indi- 

 cations of even greater tenacity than is here 

 recorded. 



It will not be out of place here to mention 

 how the starvation experiments with this 

 particular species which proved to be of such 

 unusual interest came about. While a grad- 

 uate student at the University of Wisconsin 

 the writer got into a dispute concerning the 

 classification of the lairvse. To prove his 

 point he decided to grow some of the speci- 



mens to maturity and thus obliterate the un- 

 certainty of identification. A number of the 

 largest larvse available were placed in glass 

 dishes together with some food material. Not 

 having plenty of the favorite food material 

 at hand at the time, several specimens were 

 placed in other dishes without food and set 

 aside in a separate drawer with the intention 

 of providing for them later. However, these 

 were neglected until the opening of school the 

 following September when the writer acci- 

 dently discovered them in their secluded place. 

 Much to his surprise all of the specimens were 

 alive, in spite of the fact that they had re- 

 mained there for five months without a thing 

 to eat. It was also noticed that the larvse 

 had decreased in size. This observation was 

 further substantiated by the gradual decrease 

 in size of the various eaat-oil skins, which 

 this species is not known to attack. This in- 

 teresting information later led to experimental 

 work on the longevity of the larvae, without 

 food, on a large scale. 



A nimiber of specimens varying in size 

 from newly hatched to practically full-grown 

 larvse were placed in individual sterilized 

 vials for the purpose of ascertaining the 

 period of time that they could live without 

 food. Even the newly hatched specimens 

 showed an amazing tenacity by living over 

 four months without ever having eaten at all. 

 Some of the one fourth grown specimens lived 

 for fourteen months; those about one half 

 grown lived almost three years; those three 

 fourths^ grown lived four years ; and most of 

 the largest specimens lived over four years, 

 several of them over four and a half years, 

 and one five years and seven days; while the 

 last one died after five years, one month and 

 twenty-nine days of starvation. 



One of the most interesting phases of these 

 experiments is the gradual decrease in size of 

 the individual specimens. Many of the largest 

 larvse which were about 8 mm. in length 

 dwindled down to practically the hatching 

 length of 1 mm. before dying, and practically 

 all of the specimens which were below 7 mm. 

 at the beginning of the experiment dwindled 

 down to the same dimensions. Many of the 

 larvse of 2 and 3 mm. were reduced to some- 



