ON TROGODERMA ORNATA, PHYSONOTA UNIPUNCTATA AND TANYSPHYRUS LEMNÆ

Extract

Trogoderma ornata. Since the publication of the remarks in vol. 15, p. 91, more has been learned concerning this pest. That it disclosed without entering the earth was eventually made evident by several of the beetles being found in a large, close box, just emerging. Why they should disclose in a large box and not in a small one was not very obvious. At last the thought occurred that hygrometric differences in food and atmosphere might account for it. Having some of the larvæ reared in a small wooden pill box, at the usual time for pupation some of these were placed in another box of the same size, and their food moistened. In a few days they were found to have pupated, the beetles emerging about ten days thereafter. Their companions left unmoistened in the other box never developed. This is sufficient demonstration. Their entering the ground to pupate is exceptional, and the inference that they do so normally is erroneous.