ABSTRACT
Samples of all stages of Phyllopertha hortícola L. have been analysed for fat, total nitrogen and glycogen.
Total nitrogen increases throughout the larval feeding period, while fat and glycogen are laid down mainly in the latter half.
From November, when the third-instar larva goes into hibernation, until June, when the eggs have been matured and laid, no food is taken.
Of the store of fat and glycogen in the hibernating larva at the beginning of the winter, half is used up by the time the adult emerges. The other half is used in the formation of eggs.
Adult feeding provides energy for the post-oviposition activity period.
This figure was calculated knowing that (a) a bee of about too mg. uses about 10 mg. of sugar per hour in flight (Wigglesworth, 1950, p.392) and (6) the calorific value of fat is a-2 times that of carbohydrate; and assuming that (a) a garden chafer adult of about 50 mg. uses about half the sugar used by a bee of 100 mg. and (i) both fat and glycogen are available for use in flight.
