C1CINDELA. 



317 



Iii the first place be describes the oviposition of the female in 

 detail. The ovipositor is made up, be says, of the abdominal seg- 

 ments 8, 9, and 10 and their appendages. The posterior part of the 

 seventh and the anterior part of the eighth segments are soft and 

 pliable, serving to permit the entire posterior end of the abdomen 

 to be withdrawn into the segments in front, as is the case in many 

 Coleoptera. The apical appendages or " gonapophyses," of which 

 he gives an elaborate description, are used by the female for digging 

 holes in the ground from 7 to 9 mm. in length. She tries the soil 

 at first by making holes without laying eggs, but afterwards lays 

 single eggs in these holes, with the larger end uppermost. In 

 about two weeks after the eggs are laid the young larvae appear, 

 being much like their later stages. Soon after hatching, the larva 

 makes its way to the surface, packing the soil so that the diameter 

 of the burrow is only slightly broader than its prothorax ; at first 

 the burrow is no deeper than the hole made by the ovipositor, but 

 the larva soon digs to a depth of 10 to 15 cm. Alter feeding for 

 three or four weeks, the larva closes the mouth of the burrow with 

 soil, and goes to the bottom and moults, returning again to the 

 surface at the end of from five to seven days. The second larval 

 stage lasts about five weeks, and the third and last is much the 

 same as the others. The pupa at first is only a little shorter than 

 the larva, but it gradually contracts and assumes a form broad in 

 front and tapering to the apex ; the large mandibles of the perfect 

 insect are strongly marked, and the back is furnished with long 

 tubercles, each ending in three setae, which serve to keep the body 

 away from the surface on which it rests. " The eggs of the 

 species (C. -puvpuveci) are laid in May : the larvae reach their last 

 stage in August, hibernate, begin to feed again in April, and 

 pupate in July ; the adults emerge in August, feed for a time, 

 hibernate, and come out in the second spring still sexually imma- 

 ture, reach maturity in the first warm days of April, and lay eggs 

 and die. The larval life lasts from twelve to thirteen months, and 

 the adult life ten months— two years between generations." 



Mr. Shelford further gives valuable notes on about a dozen 

 American species, and sums up as follows : — 



" 1. The eggs are laid in open burrows made by the ovipositor 

 as in the English species ; the period of incubation is 

 usually about two weeks. 



" 2. There are three larval stages ; the first usually lasts a little 

 more than one month, and the others vary greatly in dif- 

 ferent species. 



" 3. The burrows differ greatly in different species ; C.generosa 

 has a burrow which opens into the side of a pit, an 

 adaptation to shifting sand ; C. cuprascens does not smooth 

 the edge of the burrow in the usual manner. 



" 4. The life-histories are of three types : — ■ 



(a) Eggs laid in the late spring or early summer; 

 larvae hibernate usually in the third stage, pupate in the 



