OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XIII, 1911. 



131 



end of the median spur by a rather stiff, glassy, chitinous 

 skin. It seems to vary a little in shape and color in differ- 

 ent species. In Brochymena species it is entirely dark brown, 

 in other species whitish. This strange instrument is evi- 

 dently an egg-burster. After it has performed its function 

 it glides over the head of the emerging larva and is usually 

 retained in the empty shell with parts of the shed larval skin 

 (fig. 3). 



Kirby and Spence, in their Introduction to Entomology, 

 vol. in, 1826, were the first observers to notice this strange 

 form of an egg-burster, which they named a crossbow. Dr. 

 Richard Heymons 1 published a most accurate study of this 

 egg-burster and its function in the eggs of species of the 

 family Pentatomidae. Very recently Di. A. W. Morrill 2 has 

 also given a full account of his observation on this interesting 

 subject. 



It may be of some value to record that the occurrence of 

 this peculiar form of an egg-burster is not limited to the eggs 

 of species belonging to the 

 family Pentatomidse. The 

 writer has found the same in- 

 strument, with slight varia- 

 tion of shape, in the eggs of 

 species of the Coreidae, which 

 indicates the near relationship 

 of these two families. 



The eggs of the Coreidae 

 are another type of strange 

 form. The species in this 

 family deposit their eggs quite 

 differently from those of the 

 former. They are not laid in 

 an upright position, as in the 

 Pentatomidae, but fastened 

 lengthwise to the surface of the leaves. They are similar in 

 form, mostly elliptical. Some resemble in outline a miniature 

 oyster-shell, as in the genus Anasa and its allies. The cap is 

 always present at one end of the upper side, somewhat oval 

 shaped, and the rim that indicates the future opening of the 

 egg is often quite indistinct in some species. The color of 

 these eggs varies from a deep brown to a light reddish brown 

 or bronze; others are shining, brilliantly golden in line, as in 



^eitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Insectenbiologie, Band ii, 1906, 

 pp. 75-88. 



2 Plant-bugs Injurious to Cotton Bolls, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of 

 Entom., Bull. No. 86, 1910, pp. 38-39. 



FIG. 3. 



