LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 
19 
dition of the soil, a loose damp soil being selected by the adults in 
preference to other kinds. 
Nearly all the eggs were placed in the first inch and a half of damp 
soU, and the greater part of these about 1 inch below the line of 
dampness. 
A small mite, which has been identified by Mr. Nathan Banks as 
(Gamasus) Parasitus coleoptratorum'L. (?), was commonly noted in the 
soil with the eggs but was never seen destroying them. 
NUMBER AND HATCHING OF EGGS. 
Complete records for the eggs could not be obtained, so the num- 
ber of eggs laid by a female of this species is still a question. One 
female which had been isolated after fertilization laid 71 eggs before 
death, and 11 were added by dissection, bringing the total to 82 
eggs. Another female gave a total of 63 eggs by oviposition and dis- 
section. Two others gave 61 and 52 eggs. Twenty-five dissections 
gave the number of eggs as between 28 and 40, or an average of about 
A^^K 
Fig. 4.— Diagram showing the period eggs of the sugar-beet wireworm were in the soil, with temperature; 
season of 1912,. Compton, Cal. (Original.) 
" 34 eggs per individual. It is quite probable that 100 eggs or even 
more may be deposited by a single female. 
Practically all the eggs hatch. In the laborator}^ over 94 per 
cent of 5,000 eggs hatched successfully, even after they had been 
handled and kept under artificial conditions. Those which did not 
hatch were for the most part either allowed to dry out or were killed 
r by a fungus. Eliminating two cages — the one which dried out and 
the one in which the fungus appeared — it would be safe to say that 
i over 98 per cent of about 4,200 eggs which were kept under labora- 
tory conditions hatched safely. 
There is an optimum zone, in so far as the degree of dampness is 
concerned, for the hatchmg of the eggs. Some eggs kept in a dry 
►, vial indoors, where it was not too warm, failed enthely to hatch and 
after a time shriveled up. On the other hand, the eggs which were 
kept too damp were subject to a fungous attack. Water itself 
