The Fouk-lined Leaf-Bug. 



237 



cages in the insectary and had soon sampled several of the plants in the 

 room. To this wandering habit of the adult is due, we believe, most 

 of the injury reported to the buds of flowering plants and the foliage 

 of its other herbaceous food-plants. As indicated in the discussion of 

 the habits of the nymphs, they work only on the shrubs, while all the 

 reported attacks on the herbaceous plants are directly traceable to the 

 adults only. However, most of the adults must find their way back 

 to the shrubs sooner or later in order to fulfil their destiny in the per- 

 petuation of the species as we shall see in the discussion of the next 

 topics. V 



Oviposition of the insect. — Nothing has heretofore been recorded 

 regarding the oviposition of this pest. No one has seen the eggs 

 except as they have been taken from the body of the female. 



From the time the first adults appeared this year, about June 15, 

 •until they disappeared from the bushes about July 15, frequent obser- 

 vations were made to discover if any eggs were laid before fall, and if 

 so, when and where. Egg-laying began about a week after the adults 

 appeared and most of them had been deposited by July 7, The loca- 

 tion of the eggs had been discovered in May when the young hatched, 

 so that they were easily found in July. 



Unfortunately none of the bugs were caught in the act of laying 

 their eggs. A glance at the ovipositor of the female as shown in figure 



Fig. 10 . — Section of currant stem showing eggs in position ; e, egg, greatly enlarged . 



9 is, however, very suggestive. When not in use it lies hidden in a 

 deep groove of the abdomen as represented at a in the figure. It can 

 be lifted from the groove as at c, and then appears as a thin blade- 



