36 [February, 



It may be worth while to add Erichsou's note as to B. hinnulus, 

 which is (Gen. et spec. Staph., p. 763), "A praecedente [B. bicornisl 

 prsecipue statura graciliore, frontis niargine laterali in utroque sexu 

 hand in cornvi fonnani elevato, elytris minus dense punctatis etc. 

 distinctus." 



I think, if we bear in mind the variation of the cephalic eleva- 

 vations I have previously recorded, that it is probable that B. diota 

 will be found the same as B. hinnulus, Er. 



Brockenhiirst : 



December 20th, 1910. 



A CONTEIBUTION TOWARDS THE LIFE-HISTORY OP 



MIBIS LMVIGATUS, L. 



BY E. A. BUTLER, B.A., B.Sc, F.E.S. 



So little is known about the early stages of the Hemiptera, that I 

 have no hesitation in recording the following details, though they refer 

 merely to a very common species. On May 28th, 1910, I found a 

 green ? of Miris leevigatus in Epping Forest. As it seemed to be 

 gravid, I brought it home, hoping to obtain some eggs. I placed it in 

 a glass tube, and kept it supplied with blades and stems of grass, on 

 which it frequently fed. In feeding, the rostrum, which is too long 

 to be placed at right angles to the body, is inclined backwards, and 

 thus slopes beneath the body ; in this position it would appear that 

 the insect cannot obtain more than a very imperfect view of the point 

 of attack. The setee are driven some distance into the grass blade, so 

 that the labial trough in its basal part is bent at an angle away from 

 them, while its apical part acts as a guide to them. The position, in 

 fact, is much the same as is observable in the Dipterous Culex when 

 feeding. A use is thus shown for the joints in the rostrum. 



I examined the tube and its contents carefully, as often as pos- 

 sible, but could find no trace of eggs till June 8th, when I noticed, 

 attached to a blade of grass, a long glassy-looking object, which had 

 certainly not been there when I examined the tube the previous day. 

 Subsequent events showed that this was the egg of the Miris, although 

 unfortunately I had not witnessed the actiial oviposition. The egg 

 was Ij mm. long, of a cylindrical shape, truncated at its distal ex- 

 tremity, and at its proximal partly imbedded in a longitudinal slit in 

 the tissues of the grass. It was placed, not upright, but sloping at 

 an angle of about 45° with the grass blade. In colour it was creamy 

 white, and its surface was smooth and shining. In the course of 



