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



Insect Investigations, and Mr. V. L. Wildermuth, their notes were 

 kindly placed at the writers' disposal. 



October 11, 1915, there were received at Melrose Highlands, Mass., 

 11 males and 6 females living and 1 female dead from Mr. Caffrey. 

 These were shipped from Maxwell, N. Mex. They were inclosed in 

 jars and offered larvae of P. rapae, upon which some of them actively 

 fed until November 1 before entering hibernation. They are still in 

 hibernation at this writing (April, 1916). Many specimens were col- 

 lected on the range between May and August, 1913 to 1915, and their 

 habits studied in connection with the range caterpillar at Koehler, 

 N. Mex. 



FOOD CONSUMED BY ADULTS. 



During the summers of 1913 and 1914 adults were collected on the 

 range and one pair each inclosed in battery jars containing earth 

 and records kept daily of the amount of caterpillars consumed and 

 reproductive habits. The beetles were very numerous at Raton, 

 N. Mex., in 1913, and 15 pairs were collected for rearing experiments. 

 Several pairs fed from July 28 (date collected) until September 4 

 consumed 75, 65, 61, 57, 56, and 55 Hemileuca olivine Ckll. larvae, re- 

 spectively, before being transferred to hibernation cages. The beetles 

 proved themselves readily predacious on the above species, having 

 averaged destroying approximately two caterpillars per day during 

 the period. Those fed in confinement in 1914 devoured H. olivine 

 larvae from May 29 to September 5, proving predacious on this spe- 

 cies throughout, but only to a slight extent after the middle of August. 

 After that time the beetles were inactive and spent much of their time 

 beneath the surface of the soil. 



Both adults and their larvae were observed destroying the pupae of 

 H. oliiiae in their cocoons, but this particular stage of the host insect 

 was destroyed more commonly by the beetle larvae than by the adults. 



REPRODUCTION AND HIBERNATION. 



The females in confinement and under observation at the laboratory, 

 Koehler, N. Mex., during 1914 deposited eggs, beginning the first week 

 in June and ceasing about the first week in August. The eggs hatched 

 in from six to nine days. One female, during this season, deposited 60 

 fertile eggs between June 8 and 17; one, 31; and another, 19. The 

 latter female deposited eggs between July 13 and August 1» As is 

 indicated by these records, the propagating and feeding season of the 

 adults and feeding period of the larvae extends over a long season, 

 which approximates the growing period covered by the larval and 

 pupal stages of H. oliviae. 



The adults become-more or less inactive after the middle of August 

 to September 1 in the field and soon seek hibernation in the ground. 

 Twenty-five beetles under observation, fed in cages in 1913, were 

 transferred to hibernation cages September 4. The last of this lot 

 entered the ground October 12. Their first appearance in the field 

 was noted May 26, 1914, indicating the approximate time of first 

 emergence. Those kept in jars containing 5 to 6 inches of loose soil 

 at Melrose Highlands, Mass., fall of 1915, descended to bottom of jar 

 to make cavities for hibernation. 



The maximum length of life of adults of this species has not been 

 definitely determined, but it is probable that they live two or three 

 years. 



