110 



this period, including the time, place, aud method of opposition, re- 

 mains a complete blank, so far as published observations are concerned. 



About the 20th of November, 1888, I captured a number of adult 

 beetles in an old strawberry field in southern Indiana. Takiug them 

 home with me and placing them on plants transplanted to a warm room 

 where the temperature was from 65° to 70° Fahr., they immediately be- 

 gan pairing. A few days later one of the females was observed to eat 

 a hole through one of the bud scales, which at this time enveloped the 

 crown of the plant (all leaves and leaf-stalks having been previously 

 removed), and afterwards reverse her position and push the tip of her 

 abdomen into the hole, dropping, as I supposed, her egg down among 

 the young unfolding leaves. Leaving home on the 6th of December, I 

 did not return again until the last of the following March, during which 

 time both plants and beetles perished. 



On the 4th of April I received from Mr. J. 0. Beard, of New Albany, 

 Ind., a fresh supply of beetles, composed of both sexes, and from the 

 same field from which I had taken my previous supply. These were 

 not placed on growing plants, but in a glass jar and fed each day with 

 fresh leaves. The sexes were pairing when received, but I secured no 

 eggs until the 7th, when a single egg was found on the bottom of the 

 jar. No more eggs were found until the 17th, when two additional ones 

 were found, also on the bottom of the jar. 



The Egg.— The egg is 0.9 mm in length, and 0.6 mm in breadth, with the 

 ends, each, equally obtusely rounded; color very light yellow, often 

 covered with a whitish, glutinous substance. 



I now had over a dozen females in the jar, and, notwithstanding they 

 were pairing with the males constantly, there appeared to be no incli- 

 nation towards ovipositing. Wishing to learn (1st) whether or not this 

 was due to a lack of favorable conditions, and (2d) if there was any par- 

 ticular part of the plant more favorable than another, I planted three 

 strawberry plants in as many flower-pots, placing the first so deep in 

 the soil that only the leaf stalks were exposed, the second in such a way 

 that it was exposed to the base of the leaf stalks, and the third so as to 

 leave nearly all of the bulbous root exposed above ground. A single 

 female was taken from the jar and placed on the first plant, and cov- 

 ered with a glass, All leaves had been cut away, leaving two leaf 

 stalks each about one and one-half inches in height. After being placed 

 in the jar the female remained perfectly quiet for a few minutes and 

 then began an inspection of the stems. An excavation was made in 

 one of them about an inch above the soil, but was abandoned without 

 being used as a nidus. The second stalk was then taken under consid- 

 eration and critically examined, after which, with head downward, she 

 began excavating a cavity about one-fourth of an inch above ground, 

 and, after finishing it, she reversed her position and deposited her egg 

 at the mouth of the cavity. The labor of oviposition over, she again 

 turned about, and, after carefully pushing the egg in place, began col- 



