14 



BULLETIlSr 436, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUKE. 



all her eggs in a single day, or in two or more successive days, or she 

 may deposit only a part of them and then rest from fom- to five days, 

 after which another large number may be deposited; then, after 

 another period of three or more days, a third deposition of eggs may 

 occur. 



Table VI. — Egg-laying record of 13 females of the desert corn flea-beetle (Chaetocnema 

 ectypa) at Tempe, Ariz., 1915, by L. J. Hogg. 



Female No. 8 



IS 



11 



1 



22 



16 



3 



5 



1 



5 



8 



1 



23 



6 



13 





 1 

 





 

 6 

 



1 



13 

 

 



1 





 

 





 

 

 1 



10 

 

 











31 





 

 



16 



1 

 1 











































11 























Female ISJ o. 12 





























 

 3 

 

 

 

 

 



2 

 

 1 

 

 

 12 

 

 4 



12 

 6 

 4 



8 

 1 

 

 

 



4 



12 

 28 



7 





 14 





 13 





 

 





 36 

 21 



10 

 

 11 



7 

 



13 

 





 



1 



15 



1 









 5 



4 

 





 22 



OS 

































5 

 

 

 



1 

 3 

 

 





 

 10 

 3 



12 



6 

 

 6 





 

 30 





 









 









 19 

 15 











14 



4 









33 











15 

























Note. — This table shows the record of a female from the day she started oviposi- 

 tion until the day she finally completed the same and does not show her length of life, 

 either before or after o^iposition. 



The females are quite prolific, often laying from a dozen to over 

 100 eggs each. During June of 1915 the writer recorded four females 

 which laid, respectively, 19, 57, 20, and 29 eggs, while three females, 

 aU confined in the same cage, laid a total of 145 eggs, averaging 48 

 eggs each in a period of 12 days. Mr. L. J. Hogg durmg August of 

 the same year made oviposition records upon 16 females which he 

 had under observation, the number of eggs for each female being as 

 follows: 23, 40, 85, 101, 69, 20, 45, 11, 55, 17, 126, 36, 39, 25, 23, 14. 



LENGTH OF LIFE. 



In cages the adults usually died within a week or 10 days after 

 oviposition was completed, but in some cases the length of life of the 

 adult beetles was often prolonged. As shown in Table V, it varied 

 from 15 to 83 days, the average for these eight specimens being 

 33.6 days. 



It is suspected that in the field, under natural conditions, where 

 they are better able to protect themselves from the sun and from the 

 moisture which was nearly always more or less present in small vial 

 cages, the length of fife might be even longer than that recorded in 

 this table. 



METHODS OF FEEDING. 



The adult beetles usually feed during the cooler parts of the day 

 in the warm summer months and during the warmer parts of the 

 day in the cooler sprmg and faU months. During the summer they 

 protect themselves by getting down within the infohations of the 

 plants, where they may secure tender succulent food and at the same 



