THE BROWN FRUIT-CHAFER. 71 



evidence, it was thought, that these grubs committed the injury. 

 Even though this were true, which is not probable, it would not con- 

 flict with the statement that the normal food of the larva is manure 

 and humus and the plant-feeding habit exceptional. 



Among the unpublished notes of the late Dr. Eiley, made many 

 years ago and on file in this Division, are some remarks which if pub- 

 lished earlier might have thrown some light upon the life habits of this 

 species, or at least suggested what the natural habits of the larva were. 

 July 10, 1874, larvae which were afterwards reared to the adult were 

 found to have eaten the balls of manure made by the common tumble 

 dung beetle, Canihon Iwvis, which happened to have been placed 

 in the same tin box. Later balls of manure of the tumble dung were 

 furnished to these larvae, which fed upon them. 



The other notes will be briefly mentioned in their proper place later 

 on in this article. 



About a score of the larvae of nearly the same age (some having 

 increased somewhat in size from the small amount of nutriment which 

 they had been able to obtain from the sand in which they had devel- 

 oped) remained after a sufficiency was preserved for permanent deposit 

 in the National Museum collection. These were used in experiments 

 to determine the food habits and injuries that might be effected by 

 them. The experiments began June 27. One lot was placed in a small 

 pot with a small strawberry plant, another with a strawberry plant 

 which did not look rjarticularly thrifty, and a third was placed in a 

 rather large pot with manure and earth, and a fourth was placed on a 

 patch of strawberries on the experimental plat. 



The sickly plant did not wholly recover, but the healthy one, when 

 examined July 22, was found to be still sound in every particular. In 

 both of these pots the larvae had reached a length of a little over half 

 an inch (14 mm ). In the manure the larvae were much larger, having 

 attained a length of nearly an inch (23 mm ). No evidence of the pres- 

 ence of the larvae in the strawberry patch could be detected. 



Previous experience, together with these experiments, although on 

 so small a scale, very conclusively prove that the larva of this species 

 is not injurious except perhaps under the most exceptional circum- 

 stances, and that it feeds practically exclusively on humus aud not 

 upon roots, thus agreeing in its habits with the observations of Dr. 

 Howard and others on the allied Allorliina nitida. 



The larvae travel on their backs with equal facility to those of the 

 latter species, but appear to possess rather less speed; still, with the 

 assistance of the rows of short stiff bristles on the dorsum, they crawl 

 by undulating motions with considerable rapidity. 



Of other points in the life history of this species Mr. Slingerland 

 wrote : 



Doubtless the beetles hibernate, but whether egg-laying takes place in fall or 

 spring is not known. The fact that manure piled in August and October contains 

 many nearly full-grown grubs the next June indicates that the eggs are laid and 



