70 BULLETIN 417, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



June 20 and 25, and died July 10; the fourth, 92 fertile eggs between 

 June 15 and 30, and died July 28. The total number of larvae that 

 hatched from eggs of these four females was 222, or an average of 

 56 for each. 



The second female, which deposited 71 fertile eggs in 1909, entered 

 hibernation late in the summer, emerged the following spring, de- 

 posited 82 fertile eggs between May 26 and June 30, and died July 2, 

 1910. This female deposited a total of 153 fertile eggs in two sea- 

 sons. Copulation was observed with the pair on May 20 and 28 

 and June 2 of the latter year. The females in some cases lived 

 longer than the males. A few fertile eggs were also deposited in 

 1911 by two females — beetles received from Europe in July, 1910. 

 One female reared in the vivarium at the laboratory in 1910, when 

 placed with an old male in 1911, was observed to copulate, and on 

 June 3 of that year it deposited one infertile egg before dying. 



All the notes secured on the reproduction of beetles of this species 

 tend to prove that they ordinarily do not reproduce the summer after 

 issuing as adults. None of those received from Europe and confined 

 in jars reproduced until the year following their receipt or later, and 

 they were in their first year or older when received. The young 

 female reared at the laboratory that deposited one infertile egg is an 

 exception as far as the record goes, but this female died almost 

 immediately thereafter. Most of the beetles passed the first year 

 under abnormal conditions, as they were deprived of food during the 

 long voyage to America, and this may in part explain their behavior. 



LONGEVITY. 



June 23, 1908, a large shipment of beetles was received from 

 Europe, and eight pairs were confined in jars, while others were liber- 

 ated in a colony. One pair ol beetles, No. 1506, hibernated success- 

 fully for two winters and died, the female July 2, 1910, and the male 

 September 2 of the same year. This pair of beetles were larvae and 

 pupae in the summer of 1907 or earlier and lived three years or more. 

 The female produced 71 fertile eggs in 1909 and 82 in 1910. No eggs 

 were deposited in 1908. Many of the other beetles in this series died 

 after one or two summers at the laboratory and may have been older 

 when collected. Three years is probably the age limit in the adult 

 stage for this species. 



COLONIES. 



June 28, 1908, the junior writer liberated 38 males and 45 females 

 of this species in a wood lot in Winchester, Mass. An ample supply 

 of caterpillars of Porihetria dispar was available, and the woods 

 adjoined a market garden, where a greater or less number of cut- 

 worms were present. ^ The species has not since been recovered, 

 although occasional visits have been made to secure evidence of its 

 presence. 



In June, 1911, a larval colony of 27 specimens in the first and 

 second stages was liberated in a garden in North Saugus, Mass., 

 where cutworms were very abundant. This colony was very small 

 and no evidence has been secured that the species has become 

 established. 



The attempts at colonizing this species in eastern Massachusetts 

 have thus far been unsuccessful. There is a possibility, however, 



