250 Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 
of twelve eggs during a period of twenty-two days. From the 
time the first eggs were found until oviposition stopped there 
was an average of one egg per day. In no case did it appear 
as if more than one egg had been rAcsosttcd in the same place. 
Most of the eggs were below the surface of the soil and it is 
possible that the eggs were placed in a group and then disturbed 
by the digging of the adults. However, the adults confined 
their diggings to the material near the sides of the jar and left 
were discovered they were found in localities which apparently 
had not been molested by the adult inhabitants. This particular 
form (S. maculosus) has an egg which is so large that it 
stretches the imagination to believe that many ripe eggs could 
be contained in the abdomen at one time. Again, it seems logical 
that if the eggs were deposited in a group, the number of eggs 
found would not closely correlate with the number of days be- 
tween sepagk be Although the ean data quoted above does 
not s ac ing for every , yet the average was one 
egg per day which in itself oe to the conclusion that the 
eggs were iaid singly. These few facts have formed the prin- 
cipal evidence for my support of Xambeu’s account as I have 
interpreted it. 
In the case of Staphylinus maculosus, the female did not die 
from the effects of oviposition for when food grew scarce in 
the culture, she killed the male and ate the softer parts. When 
I killed her for preservation she was as vigorous as when I 
first collected her. 
From what is known of the oviposition and feeding behaviors 
of the staphylinids it is evident that oviposition behaviors in 
imiti the 
behavior on their part but through their normal feeding behavior. 
Oviposition is incidental to the feeding behaviors. Even among 
the parasitoid staphylinids the adults seek out the. root maggots 
as food material for themselves and not as a source of as 
for their vii Adults and larvae are to be found in ac- 
cumulation of decaying organic matter which has been heaped 
in one place long enough to allow larvae to hatch from eggs 
deposited there during the feeding of the adults. Only adults 
are found in habitats of recent oe as they readily migrate 
from one food source to anothe 
Xambeu considers spring as the time of most extensive 
oviposition. This may be true but it is most certainly not the 
only time of egg laying. A female specimen of Ontholestes 
engelotas taken at Winona Lake, Indiana, 9.9.26, deposit ted 
