Vol. Xxii] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS 113 



and commences to peel the long strips from the opposite direc- 

 tion, pulling them up as far as the top of the cavity, bending 

 them back over it and packing them in and around the egg as 

 formerly. In this manner, at the end, she has the egg securely 

 protected by a closely kneaded and interwoven network of 

 plant tissue which becomes conspicuous by being in the center 

 (axially) of a well-defined, denuded area and also because it is 

 convex. The whole operation may require from forty-five to 

 seventy-five minutes, or perhaps on the average about an hour. 

 This method of protecting the egg is certainly ingenious. 



The following general notes were recorded : On June 20. 

 1909, females were still laying eggs. To show the compara- 

 tively enormous number of these which a single plant may re- 

 ceive, two random plants were examined on this date. In the 

 case of the first, the main stem bore 204 egg-scars and three 

 branches, 22, 13 and 28 respectively, a total of 267. The 

 main stem of the second plant bore 97 egg-scars and its three 

 branches, 7, 7 and 4 respectively, or a total of 115. This 

 means in the case of the main stem that not many areas occur 

 which are not entirely covered with the nidi. Most of those 

 occurring on the branches faced inward or toward the main 

 stem. 



June 28, a female accompanied by its mate, riding upon its 

 back, was observed making an egg-cavity and also a similar 

 pair was observed at the same time engaged in completing a 

 nidus after deposition ; the males were passive in both in- 

 stances. By this date, the adults were less common, the eggs, 

 however, still commonly found in the plants ; the larvae were 

 more common, perhaps, than the eggs. 



Two weeks later (July 15), adults were still present, engaged 

 in oviposition, though noticeably less abundant. The majority 

 of plants now opened for examination have their pithy in- 

 teriors, especially near the ground, hollowed out and filled with 

 brownish frass and debris, like moist ground cloves, those 

 larvae which are full-grown at this time (6.25 mm.) being 

 buried within the pith and partly concealed by the frass. Far- 



