276 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, '09 



his cerci apparently acting as guides in reaching the necessary 

 position. The process required but a few seconds not ex- 

 ceeding 8-10 for completion, after which the female began 

 to work away again at the thoracic depression. At 11.49, or 

 just ii minutes after she mounted his back, the female left 

 the male and took up her position on another leaf, while the 

 male began to move about nervously. At 11.50 the female 

 prepared to remove the sperm sac and this was accomplished 

 at 11.51. She immediately began to manipulate it with her 

 mouth and three minutes later had swallowed the last of it. 

 She then put her mouth to the leaf just beneath and began 

 to move it about as if searching for any particles that might 

 have been dropped. 



I had just finished my observations upon this pair when the 

 other pair assumed the proper positions for the female to take 

 another sperm sac. This was accomplished at just 12 o'clock. 

 Following this she worked away at the thoracic depression 

 for nearly 20 minutes ; this was not wholly continuous, how- 

 ever, for she would sometimes leave the male for a few sec- 

 onds. He would invariably follow, trilling, and she would 

 soon go back to work again. At 12.19, however, she lost her 

 hold and fell and the male immediately began to run about 

 nervously and trill. But he failed to find her and she soon 

 took up a position on a leaf near the bottom of the cage. At 

 12.21 she raised her body, brought the end of her abdomen 

 forward and cleaned off her ovipositor after having first 

 touched, with her mouth parts, the sac. Apparently she was 

 in no hurry to remove it, for she leisurely cleaned her ovi- 

 positor, allowing the sac to remain until I2.22^X. She then 

 seized it, pulled it off and ate it. Her feast was finished at 

 12.24. 



I left the laboratory shortly thereafter, for lunch, returning 

 at 1.45. I found the pair of nigricornis separated and rest- 

 ing quietly on the leaves, having, apparently, remained inac- 

 tive during my absence. The other pair were close together 

 on a small branch which was standing nearby perpendicularly, 

 the female headed up and the male down. She was close to 



