BIOLOGY OF THE LOTUS BORER. 3 



that before the coming of the white man the Indians cultivated it 

 for its edible seeds and rootstocks in many places alono- the Cumber- 

 land and Tennessee Elvers. 



The first examination showed that the plants were heavily in- 

 fested by the very insect the writers desired to study. Throughout 

 the rest of the season of 1919 frequent careful studies were made of 

 the conditions at Kimberlin Heights, and quantities of material were 

 brought to the laboratory for closer study and for rearing purposes. 



At the time of the first visit, July 19, the main blooming season 

 was closing. There were still a few flowers and scattering buds. 

 None of the seed pods had ripened, but the oldest ones were fully 

 grown. A count showed that there were 472 pods in all stages in the 

 plantation. Of these, 80 (IT per cent) showed work of the larvae 

 and were collected and examined individually. They contained 39 

 empty pupal shells, 23 pupse, and 2 larvse in the prepupal stage. 

 Moths began to emerge at once, or, more properly, continued to 

 emerge from the pupse until July 28, when the last one appeared. 



On July 19, larvae, evidently the progeny of the earliest moths, were 

 found feeding on the leaA^es. These larvse were mostly small, only a 

 few half grown, and none mature. When taken to the laboratory for 

 rearing they began to pupate July 28, and the first moths of this gen- 

 eration emerged August 4. From this time on there was a continual 

 overlapping of generations, larvse both from the later moths of the 

 first generation and from those of the second being inseparably mixed. 

 From these larvse and from others collected on July 28, moths con- 

 tinued to emerge until August 27. On August 5 no very small larvse 

 could be found. The youngest observed probably were in the third 

 instar, but several egg masses were found, so it seemed probable that 

 the last moths of the first generation had not yet disappeared. On this 

 same date it was also found that the larvse of this generation instead 

 of seeking pupation quarters in the seed heads were burrowing in the 

 upper ends of the petioles of the older leaves, preparing there a pupa- 

 tion chamber, and that a few had already pupated. One empty pupa 

 shell was found in this location, which seemingly indicated that the 

 second generation of moths had just begun to emerge. More pupae 

 and prepupal larvse subsequently were found in the petioles, and 

 larvse, in gradually lessening numbers, still feeding on the leaves and 

 in the petioles, were found until September 18. Three were found on 

 this date, but thereafter the most thorough search of the lotus and of 

 all likely hiding places in the vicinity of the pond failed to reveal a 

 trace of their whereabouts. 



A further and more careful study in this locality was planned for 

 1920, but for some obscure reason the lotus was very much less vigor- 

 ous. Comparatively few leaves and buds appeared and only a few 

 small larvse were found in colonies on June 29. 



