Walter Ritchie 323 



The chitinous parts of the support lie on the inner dorsal surface of 

 the membranous tube, while the membranous parts curve over to the 

 ventral surface fitting into the chitinous ridges there. 



The sheath portion (S) of the ovipositor bears on each side anteriorly 

 an ear or wing (E) ; each wing has both a dorsal and a ventral projection. 

 The membranous tube (//), already referred to, passes between the dorsal 

 projections of the wings. These wings or ears afford suitable surfaces for 

 the attachment of muscles, some of which play a part in the working 

 of the ovipositor. 



Borne by the anterior part of the sheath ventrally and projecting 

 into the abdomen almost as far as the metathorax, is a stout, chitinous 

 rod (R). This rod is about two and a half times the length of the sheath 

 itself and shows grooves and ridges on its lateral surfaces. The posterior 

 portion of the sheath is flattened dorso-ventrally and bears numerous 

 bristles on its apical parts. 



How the ovipositor is pushed out and withdrawn again I am unable 

 to state, but three pairs of muscles which no doubt play a part in its 

 working are worthy of note. The first pair stretches from the tip of the 

 rod (R) to the anterior half of the chitinous plate (pi) on the uterus (U) 

 (see Fig. 19). A second pair passes from the posterior half of the chitinous 

 plate (pi) and attach themselves to the inner ventral surface of the 

 sheath, while a third pair runs between the posterior half of the chitinous 

 plate on the uterus and the ventral side of the membranous tube (//). 



The Habits of the Adults. 



Feeding. As soon as the adult insects issue from the stems in which 

 they have developed, they crawl up to the leaves and proceed to feed 

 on them. 



During the daytime they do not feed to any great extent but remain 

 motionless on the leaves ; feeding takes place mostly in the evenings. 



The males, after they have fed for some time, become more restless 

 than the females and fly about from one clump of trees to another; often 

 the males would take a bite out of a leaf here and another there, and then 

 fly away to another tree. As far as I observed both sexes prefer the 

 leaves of trees from three to twenty years of age. 



The damage done by the beetles to the leaves is characteristic, and, 

 in the absence of the beetles themselves, can be used as evidence that 

 the beetles are or have been in the neighbourhood. The beetles always 

 commence to feed on the surface of the leaf, never at the margin. Once 

 a hole is cut through the leaf, the adult bites round and round the cut, 



