NAF, I'd read your earlier post and didn't respond since I couldn't give you the answer, but one bad year in the past I've had something burrow into lily buds and eat the flower before in could bloom. It wasn't the lily beetle. If I was really diligent I could catch the worm before it was able to do the damage. But you have to have seen damage before you can watch for the worms.
There's always something out there looking for a tasty meal.

Well glad to hear it wasn't the darned lily beetle anyway.

We've had lily beetle damage in Montreal for several years now. I've read your other thread also, and what you have, nutsaboutflowers, sounds a lot like the lily beetle to me, even though you haven't spotted one yet. They tend not to hang around on the lilies unless they're feeding or mating, probably because their bright red color makes them easy targets.

I believe that after eating or mating, they burrow into the ground at the base of each plant to hide, or fly about looking for new lilies to devour. Certainly the ones I catch every now and then are fly-ins because in the spring, I diligently eradicated the ones who over wintered in my garden.

The bottom parts of the lily usually get more damage because they will start eating the leaves of the lily as it sprouts and continue doing so until the blooms develop. But if they're fly-ins or if given a choice, they will go for the buds and flowers first.

Just the same, I hope for your sake that you're right and I'm wrong. Lily beetles are really nasty little beasts and I wouldn't wish them anyone.