59 



must beloi.s? to the same species. The CMora stems here Av^re olaev, 

 apparently Tn their second year of growth, the plant being a bieiniial ; 

 the ends of the eggs were not circular but a very much compressed oval, 

 as if they had been subjected to strong lateral pressure, so that they 

 became parallel-sided ; and each was at the bottom of a slight depression 

 caused bv the longitudinal splitting of the outer layers of the stem. 

 The parts imbedded corresponded to those in Dr. Chapman's specimens, 

 which he has been good enough to transfer to my collection. These eggs 

 unfortunately did not hatch, and may, indeed, have been dead when 

 I found them, possibly killed by the pressure which had altered their 



shape. 



Of course many questions arise here, such as the cause of the 

 difference in the two' cases, the time of oviposition in the latter instance, 

 whether during the first or the second year of the life of the plant, 

 the source of the assumed lateral pressure, etc. As to the purpose of 

 the enclosure of the eggs in the stem of the plant, the only sug- 

 gestions that I know of make it depend upon the mere mechanical 

 properties of the plant, which would protect them from damage and 

 would prevent them from drying up. One must not forget, however, 

 'the apparent egg-growth, in which case absorption of the fluids ot the 

 plants must take place. As the insect is much commoner than the plant, 

 as well as much more widely distributed, it is evident that, if enclosure 

 is always necessary, other plants besides CMora must be used for the 

 purpose. 



The larva as it issues from the egg is not unlike a little ant, about 

 1-7.5 mm. in length; here is a description of a specimen just under 

 2 mm. long, and therefore probably in the fully-grown form of the first 

 instar:— Narrow and parallel-sided, pale chocolate-brown, sparsely set 

 with long, fine hairs; head large, conical, and with a hindwardly arched 

 suleaticn from eye to eye, the area in front of it being rugose ; eyes not 

 pnmiinent, ocelli none; thorax with a pale line down the middle ; pro^ 

 notuin ratlier longer than head, straight in front, rounded behind, and 

 with pale foliaceous lateral margins; mesonotum with lateral margin 

 produced in the middle ot each side into a strong, upwardly directed 

 spine; metanotum with a simdar spine directed vertically and placed on 

 a level with the hind margin, instead of medially; the first two 

 abdominal segments with a somewhat foliaceous broad white border, 

 a central blunt tubercle close to the hind margin of the first segment, 

 and a very slight trace of a similar one on the second; hind margin of 

 second seo-ment pale, remaining segments very convex dorsally ; antennae 

 four-joinred, stout, terminal joint thickest and longest, and constricted 



