Generally, oviposition only follows a blood meal. For various 

 reasons the interval between feeding and egg laying varies from 

 five to 25 days, althoiigh (in tubes in jars with slightly moist 

 cotton, maintained at 29.5^. to 3CPC.J the average is six to nine 

 days (Jobling, and others). ^Specialists will be interested in 

 Wigglesworth*s (19^3) brief account of the fate of haemoglobin in 

 ovipositing females.^ 



As each egg is emitted from the female genital aperture it 

 normally comes in contact with a peculiar glandular organ, gene's 

 organ, that lies dorsally at the b^e of the capitulum. Gene's 

 organ, which is everted only during oviposition, envelops each 

 egg and provides it with a waxy, waterproof coating. Should this 

 organ fail to evert or if any eggs are missed, these shrivel and 

 fail to hatch, even in a humid atmosphere. The waxy coating is 

 soft and viscuous (melting point 50^^ . to 5'^°C . , in contrast to 

 cuticular wax, which is hard and crystalline with a melting point 

 of 650c,), The critical temperature of 0. moubata eggs well covered 

 by this wax is 45°C. Lees and Beament (T 94-8 J have made a detailed 

 study of gene's organ and its secretion, temperature and water loss 

 of eggs, morphology of the female genital tract, structure and 

 chemistry of the egg shell, and permeability of the egg shell. 



Eggs are deposited in masses on the soil or in hollows biir- 

 rowed out by the female. It has been stated that the masses are 

 aigglutinated. Actually, individual eggs have a somewhat adhesive 

 coating. When a container in which they are kept is jostled they 

 roll about like globules of mercury. This is true also for eggs 

 of numerous other argasids that have been observed. 



After oviposition, the female ""broods* over the eggs for some 

 days (Wellmanj, a phenomenon of unknown function common among 

 argasids. Jobling observed that this "brooding'" sometimes con- 

 tinvies till the nymphal molt, after which the female may walk 

 about for a time with several nymphs clinging to her, 



Dutton and Todd recorded individtial batches of ten to twenty 

 eggs, with the greatest total of several batches from a single 

 female numbering 139 eggs. MSllers (1907) observed a single batch 

 of eighty eggs. Wellman mentioned a lifetime total of 88 eggs and 

 Newstead reported a total of 94 eggs. Records obtained under opti- 

 mum laboratory conditions have been higher than those secured by 



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