208 MAINE AGRICULTUR.\L EXPERIMENT STATION. I905. 



Certainly these beetles were not obser%-ed to show gregarious 

 instincts in the sense of seeking the companionship of others of 

 their kind, but wander about quite indifferent to the direction or 

 destination of their kindred. Of course in places of concen- 

 trated local infestation many beetles independently happen upon 

 the same shelter. 



If the beetles were found in houses only in the fall their 

 presence might seem a hibernation, but in ]\Iaine there are two 

 times when they appear most abundantly, — during June and in 

 August and September, and the Jtme lot are as troublesome in 

 the house as the fall beetles. These tw-o marked periods might 

 seem to indicate tw^o annual broods, but it is difficult to obtain 

 dependable evidence with an insect which is to be found as 

 adults, pups and lan'je of various sizes, from early June luitil 

 fall, as is the case with this beetle in Maine. 



Feeding habits of larva. At North Wayne, late in June, a 

 da)"^ was spent in search of larvae of the strawberry crown girdler. 

 Close \.o the foundation of the house near the room most troubled 

 by the adults, the roots of a grass, Poa cerotine, were found to 

 be freely infested b}^ nearty grown larvae, and this grass had 

 doubtless supplied a fair proportion of the troublesome beetles. 

 A few pupae and some newd}^ developed adults, still brown in 

 color, were found among the roots with the larvae. The main 

 seat of action, however, seemed to be the strawberr}^ bed. The 

 weather had been wet and cold for some time, but in spite of that 

 there were conspicuous w ilt3- places in the bed, here and there. 

 The strawberr}- plants in these spots could be lifted from the 

 ground with the slightest pull, for their roots were eaten through 

 at a distance of two or three inches from the crown. The 

 appropriateness of the popular name of this beetle was thus 

 approved for the strav\-berr}- crowns in this bed were certainly 

 " girdled." 



A space containing three square feet was selected at random 

 from one of the wilted places in the bed. ]SIore than 200 nearly 

 grown grubs, pupae, and freshly developed adults of the girdler 

 were found about the strawberrj- roots in this space, besides 

 which there were one young cut worm and four Lachnostema 

 grubs under half size. How many more there would have been 

 if eight fat predaceous ground beetles had not been skirmishing 



