1G8 DR. V. E. SHELFOKD ON THE LIFE-HISTORIES AND 



C. sexguttata rai'ely appears in northern localities in the autumn and it is 

 probable that it remains in the pupal burrows until spring, as does C. cam- 

 pestris. The species is reported as appearing both autumn and spring in some 

 southern localities. At Chicago the adults appear during April and May, while 

 in the western part o£ the geographic range o£ the species, they do not appear 

 until late in June — after the heavy spring rains which soften the soil so that 

 the imao-oes can dio- to the surface. 



(JICINDELA PUNCTULATA. 



The eggs are laid in relatively hard dry soil, usually humus, in the latter 

 part of July. They are hatched in two weeks ; the first larval stage lasting- 

 three weeks, and the second three weeks; the third being reached by the 

 majority in September. After hibernation the larvse feed from the middle of 

 April until early June. 



The larval burrows during the feeding season are 30 to 40 cm. deep. 

 They are shallower in the summer just before the animals go into the 

 prepupal stage. In many cases the larva is overtaken by the condition of 

 helplessness which precedes pupation and pupates in the upper part of the 

 burrow, the pupa standing on end ; more often a pupal cavity is constructed 

 (PI. 24. fig. 20). The prepupal and pupal stages are each from ten days to two 

 weeks in length. The imagoes emerge after a few days, and if the ground is 

 sufficiently soft, dig their way out and reach sexual maturity by the end of 

 about three weeks. The adults do not hibernate. 



G. LEPIDA. 



The animals sometimes copulate in the small burrows which they dig in the 

 sand. The eggs are laid in the latter part of July. My only observation of 

 the eggs or egg-laying was one case in which the female, on a warm morning, 

 stood on a board in one of the cages and deposited an egg from the end of the 

 partially extended ovipositor, letting it fall on the board ; the egg was 

 accidentally destroyed. It was of a deep cream-yellow and a little smaller 

 than that of repanda. 



The second stage is reached in the autumn, by almost all of a given popu- 

 lation. This stage lasts until the following June or July, after the full-grown 

 larvfB have gone into the prepupal stage. The larvae feed in this stage (third) 

 until late in the autumn and then hibernate, coming out about the first of May. 

 Their burrows are fi-om 60 to 90 cm. deep and are very small in all of the 

 stages. A natural funnel is frequently formed at the mouth of the burrows 

 due to the action of gravity on the dry sand (fig. 19). The holes of the last 

 stages, which live for nearly a year, are closed and partially filled with sand for 

 mucn of the Lime and the larvre never appear well fed. The adults are small. 



