372 W. D. FUNKHOUSER 



may be touched or pushed without stopping the process. The writer has 

 often attempted to, take a female from a branch while oviposition was in 

 progress, and in so doing has broken off the ovispositor, which remained 

 in the egg slit. 



The time required for a single oviposition varies from ten minutes to 

 half an hour. Where several egg masses are deposited in succession the 

 resting period between each insertion increases; so that if fifteen minutes 

 elapse between the first and the second, a half hour may elapse between the 

 second and the third, and often several hours before a fourth if so many are 

 made. The same female may, however, continue to lay eggs for several 

 days until a comparatively large number have been deposited. Hodgkiss 

 (1910:87) reports one individual of Ceresa huhalus depositing 252 eggs in 

 59 scars during Julj'^ and August, and another inserting 212 eggs in 39 

 wounds during the same period. Essig (1913) states for the same species 

 that two or three hundred eggs are laid by one individual, but he does not 

 specify the time required for such a number to be deposited. 



It has not been practicable m the field to attempt to obtain more than 

 daily records of oviposition, and laboratory experiments have not in all 

 cases seemed convincing. These daily records would indicate that four 

 or five egg masses may be deposited during the course of a day, but after 

 that number has been reached the female remains quiescent for at least 

 twenty-four hours, and very probably for several days, before another 

 egg-laying period begins. 



The number of eggs in each egg mass does not vary greatly for any 

 of the membracids studied, and shows an average of four, with a minimum 

 of one and a maximum of thirteen. The numbers of eggs in one egg mass 

 as recorded for a number of the commoner species in this basin are shown 

 in the table on the opposite page. — — 



The most usual method of placing the eggs seems to be in a pabnate 

 arrangement with the bases close together and the tips projecting outward. 

 In some species the eggs are laid singly, in others in straight rows, and in 

 still others in irregular clusters. 



The season for oviposition depends largely on the number of broods a 

 year for the species concerned. If only one brood a season is usual, 

 oviposition begins in July and extends thru September; but if several 

 broods appear each year there is of course a more or less definite egg- 



