THE CALOSOMA BEETLE IN NEW ENGLAND. 



19 



undoubtedly obtain many that have just transformed to the beetle 

 stage and are just beneath the surface. In several places, where 

 beetles were numerous and were doing good work in destroying 

 gipsy-moth caterpillars, it was found later in the season that the 

 ground beneath the trees had been uprooted to a considerable ex- 

 tent and skunk droppings containing large numbers of beetle re- 

 mains were abundant in the locality. 



These beetles are also attacked by a tachinid fly, probably Viviania 

 georgiae, as a few specimens of this species have been reared from 

 beetles which died after they had been brought in from the field. 



Under laboratory conditions the beetles and their larva? are some- 

 times seriously attacked by a mite known as Tyroglyphus armipes 

 Bks. It is improbable that they suffer from this enemy under field 

 conditions, but unless breeding jars are kept free from dead cater- 

 pillars, considerable difficulty is likely to result in rearing the insect 

 in confinement. 



COLONIZATION OF CALOSOMA SYCOPHANTA. 



Colonies of this species were first liberated in the field in 1906 in 

 the towns of Saugus, Maiden, Winchester, Burlington, and Lynn- 

 fielcl, Mass. Other colonies have been released since that time in 

 territory where the insect did not occur and where gipsy-moth in- 

 festation was severe. There have been liberated in the field about 

 2,700 beetles which were imported from Europe; in addition to this, 

 during the first two or three years following 1907, colonies of larvse 

 and some beetles reared at the laboratory were also released in the 

 field. Since 1910 this species has not been received from Europe, and 

 most of the specimens colonized have been collected in eastern Massa- 

 chusetts, where the beetles have become abundant. Table III gives a 

 summary of the number of beetles imported, as well as those collected 

 and colonized since the work began. 



Table III. — Number of living Calosoma sycophanta imported, and number of 

 beetles and larva? colonized. 



Year. 



Received. 



Colonized 

 from 



importa- 

 tions. 



Colonized from rearings 

 and field collections. 



Adults. 



Larvae. 



1906 



693 

 967 

 675 

 405 

 1,305 



389 

 578 

 430 

 250 

 1,064 







1907 



I 



1908 





2,300 

 6,100 

 6,380 

 1,104 



1909 





1910 



452 



621 



176 



- 3,014 



4,244 



1911 



1912 | 



1913 



2,901 

 330 



1914 







Total 



4,045 



2,711 



8,507 19,115 



