80 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Voi.xin. 



into the bursa copulatrix of the female. The pair then separates but 

 the white mass hangs from the abdomen of the female as a large bi- 

 lobed appendage and apparently causes her much annoyance. 



It is not evident what the function of this albuminous mass is, but 

 it looks like simply a plug to close the bursa copulatrix. In the male 

 a great mass of tubular accessory glands open into the ejaculatory duct 

 and it must be these glands that secrete the albuminous mass.* The 

 female often keeps the tip of her abdomen elevated to prevent the 

 mass from dragging on the ground, for, being sticky when fresh, it 

 becomes covered with bits of leaves and grains of sand. She attempts 

 to rid herself of it by bending her head beneath the abdomen and 

 chewing it off. Others assist her by eating at it until after a short 

 time it is gone. Seldom is one seen in the afternoon with the mass 

 adhering while it is commonly present on females in the morning 

 between ten and twelve o'clock. Xo cases of mating were ever ob- 

 served in the afternoon. 



Most of the afternoon is spent by the members of non-migratory 

 bands in the same way as the early part of the morning. At about 

 five o'clock, however, in both stationary and migratory bands, the 

 females begin laying eggs and continue to do so until late in the evening. 

 While ovipositing the female most commonly assumes an upright posi- 

 tion, standing upon her hind legs beside a small bunch of grass and 

 grasping the blades with the other legs for support (Fig. 3). The 

 ovipositor is carefully forced down into the ground to its base. Strong 

 peristaltic contractions of the abdomen now take place for a minute 

 or so and then the ovipositor is withdrawn. Immediately, however, 

 it is either poked down again into the same hole or thrust into a new 

 place beside the first one. Thus the female continues placing a few 

 eggs in one hole, a few in another and so on until a great many are 

 laid about the roots of the same clump of grass. Often she quits one 

 place and goes off some distance to another. In the migrating bands 

 the females have much difficulty in depositing their eggs on account 

 of the jostling and pushing of those moving past. Sometimes a female 

 while ovipositing rests on the ground in the natural position and in- 

 serts the ovipositor by drawing the tip forward beneath her and then 

 thrusting it downward into the ground. 



The eggs are not inclosed in a case, each being entirely free and 



*See Internal Anatomy of Peranabrus scabricollis by R. E. Snodgrass — Jour- 

 nal New York Entom. Soc, XI, p. 186, pi. XII, Fig. 8. 



