THE ARCUATE MAY BEETLE. 77 



The color of all the Lachnosternas of this group is shining, dark, 

 mahogany brown, and the thoracic segments on their ventral surface 

 are clothed with fine, long, silky pubescence. 



REARING EXPERIMENTS. 



May 13, 1893, a course of experiments looking toward the rearing of 

 this species and of other observations concerning its habits, and the 

 remedies to be used against it, was undertaken at this Department, 

 the work being in charge of Mr. Theo. Pergande, from whose notes the 

 following data have been gathered. At this time individuals of both 

 sexes were placed in boxes containing growing grass, the beetles 

 being supplied with oak branches bearing leaves for their food. Egg- 

 laying began June 8 and continued for several days. June 19 the 

 eggs began hatching, thus giving a period of at least eleven days. 

 At a subsequent time an egg period was observed to be thirteen days. 

 Observations were continued, with the result that on August 8, 1895, 

 one larva transformed to pupa and on the 31st to the imago, which 

 gives a pupal period of twenty-three days, or a total period of two 

 years and fifty-one days from the time of the laying of the egg until 

 the issuance of the adult beetle, or nearly three years from the time 

 the egg was laid until the appearance of the adult above ground. 



INJURIOUS AND OTHER HABITS OF THE LARVA. 



(Tnder this heading will be mentioned injury inflicted by both larvae 

 and adults of L. arcuata. 



May 18, 1892, specimens of larva3 of this species were received from 

 Mr. H. Harrison, Leesburg, Loudoun County, Va., with report that 

 they were doing great damage to vegetables, shrubs, and other plants 

 in that vicinity. 



October 12, 1893, Mr. Pergande found three imagos at depths of 

 between 12 and 18 inches in dry soil, which he described as "almost 

 as hard as rock." December 21 of the same year large numbers of 

 larva3 were found on the Department of Agriculture grounds during 

 the removal of a pile of compost. They were at a depth of about two 

 feet, and were all active and lively at this time, owing, doubtless, to 

 the warmth of the material in which they were living. As has often 

 been observed by those who have had dealings with these creatures, 

 three different sizes of larvre were found, indicating, as our observa- 

 tions above go to prove, a period of three years for the species. 



May 3, 1891, several hundred of these beetles were brought to this 

 office by Mr. D. H. Rhodes, landscape gardener of the national ceme- 

 tery at Arlington, with the report that the species was doing very 

 serious injury to maple trees that had just been set out in drives and 

 walks about Fort McPherson, which adjoins the cemetery. They were 

 particularly injurious to sugar maple (Acer saccharumj. The fol- 

 lowing year the writer had occasion to visit the same locality about 

 the same season of the year, and then learned that large numbers of 



