FALSE WIREWORMS OF PACIFIC NORTHWEST 77 



function. Mr. Carl F. Gissler * describes this secretion and the 

 glands from which it is secreted. 



Many pairs were in coitu on the 17th of April, and on the 21st a 

 female that was confined in a pill box laid four eggs. Between the 

 21st and 23d, when the female died, she laid 10 more eggs, which, 

 however, failed to incubate. Females dissected in the laboratory 

 were found to contain from 92 to 199 eggs. The eggs were found 

 to lie on the ventral side of the abdomen and to extend upward 

 and over part of the viscera, filling all the interstices about the 

 alimentary canal. The eggs were so crowded in the abdomen that 

 they were quite distorted. Anteriorly the eggs were smaller and 

 were fastened to the anterior abdominal sclerite by fine filaments. 



The mating season lasted about two weeks, but the adults were in 

 evidence throughout May and June. Well-grown larva? were also 

 to be found at this time. Many of the adults in the rearing cages, as 

 well as two individuals observed in the field, were seen to burrow into 

 the ground. This is accomplished by digging with the front tibiae, 

 which are expanded and armed with spines for the purpose, the tarsi 

 being folded back out of the way. The loose dirt is conveyed back- 

 ward by the middle legs and piled up behind the beetle by the hind 

 legs. When about one-fourth of an inch of dirt has accumulated the 

 beetle backs out of the hole, pushing the earth out with the abdomen, 

 the hind legs assisting in .this process by keeping the earth piled be- 

 hind the abdomen. On examining these burrows two or three eggs 

 were found in each. The burrows are filled with earth after the 

 beetles come out and are from 4 to 8 inches deep. 



Rearing cages were established by sinking barrels to the surface 

 level, filling them with earth, and fitting vertically onto the top a 

 galvanized-iron cylinder 10 inches in height and the diameter of the 

 inside of the barrel top, the open upper end bemg covered with wire 

 mosquito bar, with an introduction hole made in the wire screen and 

 corked. 



On April 20 about 30 pairs of mated Eleodes letcheri vandylcei were 

 placed in this cage, which had previously been seeded with wheat 

 and planted to Polygonum littorale. 



By June 25 the beetles were all dead in the cage, probably due to 

 abnormal conditions as well as age, though no living beetles could 

 be found in the fields at that time. Small larvae 4 to 5 mm. (about 

 three-sixteenths inch) in length were then to be found in the cage. 



On examining the cage on November 14 the larvse were found to 

 be about 14 mm. (nine-sixteenths inch) in length and at about a depth 

 of 12 to 24 inches below the surface. The soil in the rearing cage 

 was as dry as powder to a depth of nearly 2 feet, but the desiccation 

 did not seem to affect the larvae. 



1 Psyche, vol. 2, no. 58, 1879, p. 209. 

 24335°— Bull. 95, pt 5—12 2 



