FALSE WIEEWOEMS OF PACIFIC NOETHWEST. 83 



SEASONAL HISTORY. 



The following life history was worked out for Eleodes letcheri 

 vandylcei at Govan, in the Big Bend region of Washington, and unless 

 otherwise indicated the data refer to this species. 



The adults emerge from hibernation in the early spring, about 

 the middle of April, and after feeding for a short time on the leaves 

 of various weeds, principally Polygonum littorale, mate and start 

 oviposition. The eggs are deposited a few at a time in the ground, 

 the adult female burrowing down through the soft dust to the moist 

 soil below, usually to a depth of from 2 to 4 inches. The average 

 number of eggs laid by one female is probably about 150. Five 

 specimens of female Eleodes letcheri vandylcei that were collected on 

 April 30, 1911, were dissected and found to contain 199, 138, 161, 

 157, and 92 eggs, respectively. Most of these eggs were full-sized 

 and probably mature, though one female contained 45 eggs and 

 another 91 eggs which were about one- third full size. A female 

 Eleodes pimelioides, collected May 1, 1911, at Pullman, Wash., was 

 found to contain 167 eggs and 2 females of Eleodes nigrina collected 

 late in April contained 96 and 58 eggs, respectively. 



The eggs hatch in about 18 days, the recently emerged larvae 

 being cream-white, but rapidly assuming the normal amber-yellow 

 color. 



The. larvae feed throughout the ensuing summer, usually on decay- 

 ing vegetable matter, hibernate, and resume feeding as soon as 

 the soil becomes warm enough the following spring, but this time 

 disastrously to the spring-sown grain. In June the larvae trans- 

 form to pupae, and early in July the newly emerged adults commence 

 to appear. They are quite soft on first emerging and take two or 

 three days to become thoroughly hardened. These adults feed during 

 the remainder of the summer, congregating in large numbers under 

 the grain sacks, shocks, and any convenient shelter. They eat a 

 small amount of grain and other vegetable matter and go into hiber- 

 nation without mating. In the spring they resume activity and 

 mate, thus completing the life cycle. They hibernate under boards, 

 in squirrel holes, and in the ground. Prof. W. T. Shaw, of the Wash- 

 ington State College, in digging out burrows of a ground squirrel 

 (Citellus columbianus) , found specimens at a depth of 6 feet below 

 the surface in the burrows. I have dug out the hibernating beetles 

 at a depth of about 6 inches in the soil in wheat fields and also in 

 barrel root-cages. 



Larvae of Eleodes suturalis were received by Mr. Theo. Pergande * 

 on October 26, 1898, from McPherson, Kans. These pupated before 

 May 19 and adults emerged May 30. From this note it would seem 

 that Eleodes suturalis varies from Eleodes letcheri vandylcei in its life 



1 Bureau of Entomology Notes, No. 8186. 



