152 iJ«iy. 



insects, but very different fmm tlie present species. Various otlier 

 Indian representatives of the genus, not yet studied, liav8 been sent me 

 from Almora. 

 April 1922. 



A CONTEIBUTION TO THE LIFE-HISTORY OP 

 PENT ATOM A RUFIPES L. 



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



This is one of the commonest of the Httle company of Penta- 

 tomidae, betAveen 30 and 40 in number, which inliabit the British Isles, 

 and as its area extends far bej^ond, from Ireland as the western limit, 

 right across the Palaearctic Region north of the Mediterranean, to 

 Japan as the eastern, some account of its bionomics may perhaps be of 

 general interest. It is, moreover, one of the species that are of 

 sufficiently vagrant habit to force themselves on the notice of the most 

 unobservant, not infrecjuently appearing amongst the abodes of men, in 

 oui' gardens, and also even in the busiest streets of our largest towns and 

 cities — a tribute, if not to its sagacity, yet to its vigour of flight, which is 

 capable of carrying it so far from its birth-place amongst woodlantl 

 scenes. 



The PentaiomiJaeavii not provided with the saw-like ovipositor which 

 is usual am )ngst the Hemiptera, and hence the eggs are attached 

 externally to leaves, etc., being fixed in position by a minute amount of 

 adhesive secretion. On August 24th, 1917, I found in the New Forest 

 a l)atch of 14 eggs attached to an oak-leaf. They hatched early in 

 September, and turned out to be this species. The g^^ is spheroidal, of 

 a 3'ellowish colour, with a single red mark at the upper extremit}', near to 

 which is a black mai'k somewhat T-shajX'd (this probably appears onh' a 

 short iuwQ before hatching, and is the egg-opener showing through) ; 

 the surface is quite smooth, save for a circle of Avhite points which bound 

 the rim where the cap is attached. After hatching the chorion appears 

 hyaline, shining and iridescent, while the red spot has disappeared, and 

 the black T-shaped mark shows itself as the trifurcate instrument with 

 very short stem, which has been used to open the lid or cap. The cap 

 remains attached at one side, and falls bacls into position after the 

 emergence of the embr3^o, and so the hatched eg^ is left in as perfect a 

 form as the unhatehed. These 14 eggs were arranged in four rows, the 

 two outer ones containing three each, the inner ones four; the eggs in 

 each row were in conta(;t with one another anl with those of the 



