386 
Annual Report for 1913 of the Zoologist. 
no fruit, received a good deal of attention, but the cause 
remains obscure. The buds seemed absolutely healthy and 
showed no trace of injury by any insect or fungus. Apparently 
there was simply a lack of fertilisation, due either to the 
absence of suitable insects or to some other cause. [It is 
possible that the bee disease may have a wide-spreading 
influence in this direction.] 
The Raspberry Beetle {By turns tomentosus). 
In last year’s Report it was stated that an experiment was 
in progress by which it was hoped to elucidate the points 
which remained obscure in the life-history of the raspberry 
beetle. Six raspberry plants were grown in large flowerpots, 
and when about to blossom fifty beetles were admitted to each, 
and the plant and flowerpot were enclosed in a muslin bag and 
kept out of doors, under the same conditions as to temperature 
and moisture as the other plants in the fruit garden. After 
the fruiting season it was intended to remove the plants, one 
at a time at intervals of about a month, to the laboratory, and 
by thoroughly searching all the contents of the muslin bag, to 
determine the whereabouts and the condition of the insect at 
the time of examination. 
The first examination was on August 21, by which time the 
beetles admitted to the plant ought to have laid eggs in the 
blossoms, and the larvae from these eggs should have become 
fully fed on the fruit and dropped to earth. This was found 
to be the case, numerous larvaa being found in the soil at an 
average depth of 1^ inches. A few of them had already turned 
to pupae. 
A month later no larvae were found, but many pupae and 
two beetles. In October almost all the pupae had changed to 
mature beetles. 
The early appearance of the mature insect suggested the 
possibility of some activity on its part during the winter. 
There might be a second brood, either at the root of the 
raspberry or on some other food plant, but indications of any 
such habit were sought for in vain in the remaining experi- 
mental pots. The beetles were never found on the roots 
themselves, nor did any of them show any signs of wishing 
to escape from the muslin enclosure in search of other plants. 
Indeed they all remained below the soil. Search in the open 
was equally without result. It had been thought possible that 
the beetles might visit the blackberry plants in the hedges 
surrounding the raspberry plantations, but no specimens were 
found there or elsewhere in the late autumn. 
In the light of these experiments, the life-history of the 
raspberry beetle requires re-stating. 
