22 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



45$ of the entire number, and that only 3175 were deposited be- 

 tween July 19 and 31 (or the following 12 days). It will also 

 be observed that 8248 eggs were deposited by all the beetles during 

 the month of July, and this amounts to over 73$ of the entire 

 number produced by the beetles under observation. In other 

 words, a very large per cent of the eggs are deposited under 

 normal conditions during the first two weeks after the beetles 

 begin to lay, or during the first three or three and one half weeks 

 of their existence. There is then a decided drop during the next 

 10 or 12 days, and a much greater falling off in the following 

 weeks. This record probably represents very closely indeed what 

 actually occurs in the field and emphasizes the necessity of de- 

 stroying the insects early in their career, though it will be ob- 

 served that considerable protection results even if the pests are 

 not killed till three or four weeks after they appear above ground. 



The beetles which made the records both this year and last 

 were confined in jelly tumblers or fruit jars and were daily sup- 

 plied with small pieces of cane and fresh leaves. Careful records 

 were kept of all insects taken from the individual tumblers as 

 well as the large breeding jars, and, while the conditions were by 

 no means normal, it is manifest that valuable results were ob- 

 tained. In nature, it is probable that natural causes would 

 result in the death of many individuals early in their career, and 

 the same is true in the breeding jars, though deaths in the latter 

 are usually the result of confinement and unnatural conditions. 

 One to a certain extent offsets the other, and the above records 

 may be considered as giving a fair idea of what actually occurs 

 in the field. 



Our observations on eggs laid in breeding jars showed that 

 they are deposited in masses of from 1 to 125, the latter being 

 the largest number observed in one cluster. A normal egg mass 

 measures about | inch in length and less than one half that 

 in breadth. The somewhat concentric arrangement of the eggs 

 is shown on plate 1, figure 3. The rows of eggs often over- 

 lap each other like shingles, and in the center of the mass there 

 is frequently an appearance of two or three layers. The egg 

 clusters are sometimes deposited so that two thirds of the 

 branch is encircled, and in each case the whole mass is covered 

 with a sticky substance, which glues each egg to the other in 



