REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I9IO 8^ 



Slender, yellowish larvae are often found lying between wood, 

 fibers, in some instances apparently having penetrated several inches 

 from the nearest adjacent larvae. These latter do not appear ta 

 grow so rapidly as is the case in the more populous colonies, and 

 they also seem to be less .prolific, since the few larvae we have- 

 observed under such conditions, produced only three or four, and 

 mostly but one, young. The small, yellowish larvae lying in 

 crevices, mentioned above, frequently occur in series, sometimes 

 one or two lying side by side. They move comparatively little, action 

 being confined largely to the head and the semitransparent anterior- 

 body segments. Such larvae appear to remain almost unchanged 

 for two weeks or more. These muscular larvae, with their bands- 

 of retrose spines especially well developed on the anterior body 

 segments, are admirably adapted for forcing their way between par- 

 tially rotten tissues, a procedure which is also of material service in 

 giving them relative immunity from attack by natural enemies. The 

 small yellow larvae were most abundant in our material during the 

 winter months. 



Active larvae crawl rapidly over moist wood and glass, and have 

 even been observed wriggling between colonies of mold. Lack of 

 moisture appears to cause a partial suspension of vital activities^ 

 while flooding does not seem to be very injurious. The mouth- 

 parts of the larvae, though the anterior portion of the head is- 

 strongly chitinized, appear to be comparatively weak, and, while 

 we have repeatedly observed these larvae moving the head about 

 and examining adjacent tissues, we have seen no indication of 

 gnawing or boring. The alimentary canal contains little that can 

 be discerned with the aid of a compound misroscope, and we are 

 inclined to believe that a considerable portion of their nourishment 

 is absorbed by osmosis after escaping from the mother larva, as 

 well as before. It would appear as though the several types 

 of larvae occurring in a colony are possibly only modifications, due 

 to the relative amount of nourishment obtained by the individual. 



Normally, reproduction • by pedogenesis occurs throughout the 

 warm months of the year and even into late fall, and commences in 

 early spring, the cold weather of winter simply causing a suspension 

 of activities. Dr Kahle, after an extended series of observations,, 

 was led to believe that asexual multiplication might continue unin- 

 terruptedly for possibly a period of two or three years. This 

 appears reasonable, since somewhat recent experiments by Slinger- 

 land have shown that a plant louse might produce nearly lOO asexual 



