100 



BULLETIN 417, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



that it was a recently issued adult, as it is shown below under "Food 

 consumed by adults'' that the beetles often come to the surface of 

 the earth and wander about in search of food after emerging from 

 the pupa. The male that was added in the spring of 1910 was a 

 pupa in the summer of 1909 or eariier; therefore it also lived about 

 two years or more. 



The data at hand on this species will not permit the statement that 

 the adults live longer than two years. There is a possibility, how- 

 ever, that they live three years, or as long as sycophanta, inquisitor, 

 wilcoxi, and others. 



FOOD CONSUMED BY ADULTS. 



In Table 23 are given the best records secured on the food con- 

 sumed by this species. 



Table 23. — Feeding records of 3 pairs of Calosoma calidum, 1909, 1910, and 1911. 



Pair 

 No. 



Year. 



Feeding 

 record 

 started. 



Ceased 

 feeding. 



Noctua 

 clandes- 



tina 

 (sixth 

 stage). 



Malacoso- 

 ma amer- 



icana 



(fifth and 



sixth 



stages). 



Porthe- 

 tria dis- 



pa r (fifth 

 and sixth 

 stages). 



Total. 



1797 . 1909 

 2879 1910 

 5069 1911 



June 13 . 

 May 4... 



Julv 11. 

 Julv29 = . 

 Julv 26 \ 



i§" 



130 

 183 



•57 



69 



3 121 



3 104 



199 

 3 317 

 3 161 













1 Female died, record discontinued. 



2 Pair entered hibernation, 

 s Besides one pupa. 



Each of the pairs cited in Table 23 reproduced; the first female 

 deposited 59 eggs, the second 16, and the third 24. The record of 

 the 1909 pair is incomplete as the male was not collected until June 

 13, on which date the record was started, and the female died July 1, 

 thereby shortening the active feeding period by about two months. 

 The average number of large-sized caterpillars devoured by each 

 pair was 226. The period of emergence from hibernation for this 

 species is from April 15 to May 15, and the period of entering hiber- 

 nation August 1 to 15, leaving an active period extending over ap- 

 proximately three months. 



One female reared from the egg in 1909 came to the surface and 

 devoured two sixth-stage caterpillars of Portltetria dispar and 70 third 

 and fourth stage caterpillars of Hyplwntria cunea before reentering 

 the ground for hibernation on September 11. Two males and one 

 female, reared from eggs in 1910, came to the surface of the earth in 

 from one to nine days after transformation from the pupae. The 

 males ate 21 and 28 sixth-stage caterpillars of P. dispar, respec- 

 tively, before reentering hibernation August 4. The female ate three 

 caterpillars and died. 



All the specimens of this species reared in jars or cages during 1909, 

 1910, and 1911 came to the surface in search of food in a few days 

 after transformation from the pupa?. Young adults of Calosoma 

 calidum are so voracious that sometimes after coming on the surface 

 they attack one another, if caterpillars are not available. 



The habit of feeding during the first fall after entering the adult 

 stage is rather uncommon with other species of Calosoma that have 

 been studied in detail by the writers. 



