THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST 319 



practically all larvae being in the last instar by May 3. In this 

 month growth is rapid, the females maturing by the first of June. 

 Specimens dissected May 29 were found »to contain fully de- 

 veloped eggs. 



Oviposition began June 9 at which time large quantities 

 of the honey-dew persisted. As the eggs are deposited the in- 

 ternal structures of the female shrink until the body organs become 

 obliterated and persist as a thin septum dividing the egg chamber 

 into halves. During the development of the insect, the anal cleft 

 lengthens, due to the great enlargement of the body wall, until it 

 comes to lie dorsally. Thus at the end of oviposition the female 

 remains as a hollow sphere, divided internally into two cells closely 

 packed with eggs, the number of which varies from only 12 in 

 small individuals to as many as 227, the average being about 200. 



The period of incubation extends for a month and larvae were 

 observed hatching July 27. At this time they are entirely sur- 

 rounded by the body wall of the dead female, the anal cleft being 

 entireh^ closed; but within a week, the mechanical drying and 

 shrinking of the derm causes the cleft to split apart, producing 

 an opening through which the young can pass. The larvae im- 

 mediately migrate to the spruce needles upon which they settle, 

 growing slowly and moulting once before autumn. 



Description. — The eggs are .4 mm. by .24 mm. and are smooth, 

 ovate and pink in colour. The hatching young (Plate XVI, fig. 3.) 

 are small, red, lice-like insects .5. mm. in length. Microscopically 

 the antennae are six-segmented, (Plate XVI, fig. 6), and the anal 

 plate is well defined, having the usual major apical setae, (Plate 

 XVI, fig. 8). No spiracular spines are present in this species al- 

 though found in others of this genus. 



There is little difference between the two larval stages except 

 that microscopically the anal plates are further developed, (Plate 

 XVI, fig. 9). Just preceding the second moult the larva is about 

 1 mm. in length, (Plate XVI, fig. 4). 



The adult female is a brown sphere, averaging from 1.5 mm. 

 to 3 mm. in diameter, (Plate XVI, fig. 3). It presents a very curious 

 appearance when alive, capped with a large transparent viscid 

 globule of honey dew, and clothed basally with a thin sheath of 

 white wax, (Plate XV, fig. 4). During life the body wall is plastic 



