64 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



still in progress Aug. 15, and though beetles were less abun- 

 dant than three weeks before, it was still easy to find individuals 

 which contained fully developed eggs. Careful breeding cage 

 experiments were planned to determine the duration of the 

 period of oviposition, the time when the eggs were laid and the 

 total number deposited by a female. A number of pairs of 

 beetles were isolated and provided daily with fresh food. The 

 period of oviposition for a number of confined females was 

 found to extend over a period of 40 days, and in the case of indi- 

 viduals from 7 to 13 days. The records of a few beetles, show- 

 ing the number of eggs and the size of the clusters in which 

 they were deposited and found, are given herewith. 



BEETLE NO. 1 



July 11, clusters of 75, 16, 29 and 14 eggs 



July 12, a cluster of 33 eggs 



July 15, . " 20 " 



Total, 187 eggs 



Some of the clusters recorded for July 11 had been deposited 

 on earlier dates and escaped detection, since they showed the 

 characteristic band near each end, which does not appear for 

 four days. 



BEETLE NO. 2 



July 13, a cluster of 20 eggs 



July 18, 





5 



July 20, 





25 



July 21, 





30 



July 25, 





25 



July 29, 





30 



Total, 141 



eggs 





BEETLE NO. 3 



July 11, a cluster of 70 eggs (possibly older than date given) 

 July 13, " 36 " 



Total, 106 eggs 



It may be seen by the above records that the beetles deposit 

 clusters of considerable size at intervals of one to three or more 



