March, 1912.] MaTAUSCH : LiFE HiSTORY OF ExCHENOPA BINOTATA. 61 



rows often run together in a horseshoe-like formation and one or the 

 other egg is placed to one side of the row, especially inside, and 

 sometimes filling the space between them. On Robinia the rows are 

 straighter, in Cicada fashion. In covering the eggs with the frothy 

 mass the insect always starts below the slits, for which purpose she 

 lifts her abdomen and by moving the ovipositor down and up transfers 

 the substance to the tip, from which it is directed to the desired place 

 by moving the whole body. In the beginning the layers are very 

 short but soon they become longer, as the height increases, and assume 

 more or less the shape of a string, to become about half wav bev.ond 

 of the approximate height of 4 mm., then shorter again, so as to form 

 more or less of a rounded shape on Viburnum; and more oval on 

 Robinia; on the latter plant they become only half as broad as on the 

 former. Mostly those layers appear somewhat slanting down from 

 both sides to the center, where the insect usually stops and connects 

 the half built layer with the bark of the twig. From this point on 

 the outer end of the layer becomes connected with the bark by means 

 of a thinner string. And they build these masses, sometimes half as 

 high, sometimes fully as high from the twig, as they are broad, leav- 

 ing on each side a hollow space as seen in Fig. 5, which shows the 

 inside structure about the middle of its length strongly magnified. 

 At that place in the center the more or less frame-shaped layers meet 

 and are often connected with a short separate layer (Fig 5a). On 

 Viburnum the work appears sometimes coarser than on Robinia, 

 where the insect needs some 15 layers. On Vihurnum I sometimes 

 counted only 9, in which case I found the layers mostly very loose in 

 the upper portions, with holes through which the bark of the twig 

 could be seen. They generally end with the small layers irregular. 



The beginning of oviposition I observed on Viburnum in Roselle, 

 X. J., on August 6, where the first three specimens of egg-coverings 

 were found, of which one only was half finished. I tried to bring the 

 insect home in a glass, but it had been thrown oflf by a leaf, and in 

 captivity did not finish. It died after five days. I noticed that if 

 the insect was violently removed, it would not return, as I found one 

 half-finished covering on the bush, without any female nearby. 

 About a week later a new mass was built on to it. The first mentioned 

 half-finished covering gave me an opportunity to study its inner 

 structure, as above described. On Robinia in Xahant, Mass., this 



