IOWA ACADEMY OP SCIENCES. 
207 
and these, with those previously found, were placed by a fresh 
leaf that had been carefully freed from all matter that might 
possibly contain eggs of other species, and the beetles removed 
to avoid possibility of their injuring the egg. The eggs 
appeared in all cases to be protected by a fold of leaf carefully 
glued down. 
Fig. 8. Epicaerus imbrioatus eggs. (Drawn by Miss King.) 
Forbes^ says of Epicaerus that they “were found by experi- 
ment to feed freely on pear leaves, and also to lay their eggs 
upon these leaves, concealing their deposit by gumming another 
leaf to the surface.” 
The eggs are 1.3 inm. long, glistening white, nearly cylindri- 
cal, sometimes very slightly curved, the ends broadly rounded, 
the surface smooth, transparent and the shell very thin. 
The first larvae to hatch escaped before being seen, the 
empty shells being first noticed on the 30 ih. Hatching there- 
fore occurs within ten days from time of deposition. Other 
eggs isolated and kept under close observation showed that the 
larvae immediately work their way into the ground and these 
observed in root cages, during the following three weeks, 
could be seen to move about among the roots and as they very 
evidently increased in size and appeared to thrive it is safe to 
say that they fed upon the roots of the strawberry plant. 
The death of the plants in the root cages and the loss of the 
larvee unfortunately brought the observation to an end. 
The young larvm are two mm. long, without any trace of 
eyes or legs. They are yellowish- white in color, the head 
from above oval with a few strong bristles and the mandibles 
very conspicuous. The maxillary and labial palpi are short, 
stumpy and in the living larvae stand out rather prominently 
from the under side of the head. The body segments are pro- 
vided with a few small hairs. 
1 Sixteenth Eeport State Entom., 111. p. 76. 
