OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XIII, 1911. 133 



At the present time the eggs of ouly a few species, belonging 

 to the family Lygaeidae are known. Their eggs are essen- 

 tially distinct from those of the former families in lacking a 

 defined cap, and in having a few, more or less upright, chorial 

 processes around the upper pole. The two layers of the 

 chorion are very thin, and the outer surface is hexagonal. The 

 eggs are yellowish- white, becoming reddish as the embryo 

 develops. The first account of a lygaeid egg, that of our 

 common chinch bug, J3lissns teucopterns, was published by 

 Riley in the American Entomologist, 1868. : The accompany- 

 ing drawing shows plainly four chorial processes on the upper 

 end of the egg. Another author described and figured the 

 egg of the species Pan i era vincta? The figure is not clear 

 enough, but the short, concise description leaves no doubt 

 that the egg of this species is a typical lygaeid egg and reads 

 as follows: 



Egg Length 0.88 mm., width 0.43 mm.; elliptical in shape; no 

 marking; on the apical end are five short processes, each process 

 ending distally in a thick hook, the hook projecting outward. 



Not long ago the writer secured eggs of the lygaeid species 

 Belonochtlus numenius.* The eggs are laid on the fruit of 

 sycamore trees, in the crevices among the ovaries, where they 

 hibernate. Length of egg nearly 1.5 mm.; very elongated; 

 the lower end somewhat pointed; no apical cap; chorial 

 processes 5 to 6, encircling the upper pole of egg, and shaped 

 like stout, round hooks bending towards the center. Surface 

 of chorion ornamented with hexagonal cells longer than 

 broad (PI. X, fig. 1). 



Oncopeltus fasdatus has oval-elongate eggs, a little shorter 

 in size than those of the preceding species. The chorial 

 process is very short and thin at base and the round, down- 

 ward-bent portion quite big; there are 12 processes surround- 

 ing the upper end of the egg. The outer chorion smooth, 

 yellowish-red (PI. X, fig. 2). 



The eggs of no more than two species belonging to the 

 family Pyrrhocoridae are described as yet. They are similar 

 in shape to the foregoing family, except that the chorial pro- 

 cesses are low and not narrowed toward the base. The egg 

 of the cotton stainer, Dysdercus sntnrcllus, is still a desidera- 

 tum. In an exhaustive article on the life history of this 

 species, by Riley and Howard, 4 it is stated that neither the 



'C. V. Riley, The American Entomologist, vol. I, 1868, p. 173. 

 2 A. L. Quaintance, Strawberry Insects, Florida Agr. Exp. Sta., 

 Bull. No. 42, 1897. 



S O. Heidemann, Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., vol. v., No. 1, p. 11, 1902. 

 4 Riley and Howard, Insect life, vol. IV, p. 346, 1892. 



