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



latter species, making a total of 368. These two records well demon- 

 strate the feeding capacity of this species. 



STARVATION OF ADULTS. 



April 26, 1911, one pair of beetles was placed in a jar of moist 

 earth without food to ascertain how long they would live under such 

 conditions. The male died May 8 and the female May 26, the former 

 having lived eight days and the latter one month after receipt, in 

 addition to four or six days in transit, during which time no food was 

 furnished. 



The beetles had probably fed before being collected about April 

 20 and the experiment merely indicates that the species could exist 

 for a short time until migration could take place ii, for any reason, 

 the food supply became scarce or exhausted in a given locality. 



REPRODUCTION. 



Several specimens received September 29, 1909, from San Antonio, 

 Tex., were kept in a warm room and they remained active and fed ; one 

 pair until December 23. No reproduction was secured with this lot 

 in 1909 and two out of three of the females that lived to emerge from 

 hibernation in 1910 deposited 30 and 36 fertile eggs, respectively. 

 None of this lot of beetles lived to emerge in the spring of 1911. 



One pair of adults received from Victoria, Tex., April 26, 1911, 

 was placed in a jar for rearing records and between May 24 and 

 August 11 deposited 141 fertile eggs. This is the highest total for 

 one female of this species recorded at the laboratory. Another 

 female received at the same time as the foregoing deposited only 10 

 fertile eggs between May 31 and June 26, 1911. Sixteen males and 

 20 females were kept in jars and cages for reproduction in 1911 but 

 only about 5 of these females reproduced. 



LONGEVITY. 



Some of the adults that were received from Texas in the fall of 

 1909 did not die until after entering hibernation in 1910-11. During 

 the winter of 1909-10 they hibernated successfully in the laboratory 

 . cellar but died the next winter on being forced to hibernate outside. 

 These adults were pupae in the fall of 1908 or earlier and were slightly 

 over two years old at the time of death. There is no doubt that they 

 would live at least three years in a warm climate. 



HIBERNATION. 



Beetles received at .the laboratory September 29, 1909 (seven 

 pairs), and kept in a warm room between October 4 and December 

 23, buried themselves in cavities at the bottom of jars in which they 

 were fed. After cavities were made the jars were filled with earth 

 and transferred to the cellar where they remained until spring. The 

 temperature of the cellar during the winter ordinarily ranged from 

 40° to 60° F. but on cold nights it dropped below 32°. The following 

 spring the jars were transferred to outdoor cages. The beetles 

 emerged between June 15 and July 2 and one male was removed from 

 a cavity at the bottom of the jar as late as July 6 and a female on 

 July 17. Most of them went as deep as was possible for hibernation, 

 as the jars contained only about 4 inches of earth at the time the 

 beetles entered. 



