1922.] 201 



either Scotland or Ireland, nor for England north of Nottinghamshire. 

 Where it does occur, however, it is usually common and its varieties 

 are sufficiently striking and handsome to attract general notice, especially 

 when, as often takes place, it appears in our gardens. 



The egg, as taken from the body of a 5 is a reddish yellow body, 

 about If mm. in length, cylindrical, curved, especially at the anterior 

 end, rounded posteriorly and truncate anteriorly, thus quite well adapted 

 for insertion in the tissues of some plant. As with the Cajjsidae 

 generally, this must undoubtedly be the method of its deposition, for 

 the 2 is furnished with the usual saw remarkably well-developed. But, 

 al+hough the eggs are no doubt so disposed of, it by no means follows 

 that the plant in question is at all in the nature of a food-plant. The 

 majority of the Gapsidae seem, in these latitudes at least, to spend the 

 winter in the egg stage, and the insertion of the eggs in the stems of 

 plants need not necessarily have any other purpose than the protection 

 of such small objects during so many of the most inclement months of 

 the year. 



The larvae that issue from these eggs show great similarity of form 

 and colour throughout the whole of their five instars, although I very 

 much doubt whether any one who had not actually reared them would 

 guess what they would ultimately become. They are of a deep purplish 

 or reddish fuscescent colour, entirely dull and with scarcely any trace, 

 except in the head, of the shining integument possessed by the adult, 

 and with none of the deep puncturation which is acquired only at the 

 last moult. The width of the body is greatest in the middle of the 

 abdomen, and the sidas of this are supplied with verj' strong black setae 

 springing from prominent tubercles. Similar setae ai'e found on other 

 parts of the body as well, especially in the earlier instars. Such setae 

 are, I think, generally indicative of predatory habits. The antennae 

 have a long, stout, and setose basal joint concolorous with the body ; the 

 second joint is ochreous with a dark reddish-brown clavate apex ; the 

 third joint is much thinner, entirely ochreous at first, but darkening 

 ultimately ; and the fourth joint, always dark, is at first thicker than 

 the third, but narrows in the later instars ; the legs are rather powerful, 

 with dark femora, variegated tibiae, and rather short two-jointed fuscous 

 tarsi. The strong black setae above referred to entirely disappear in the 

 adult, being discarded at the last moult, when the abdomen becomes 

 more than covered by the hemielytra. It would thus appear that these 

 setae may be protective in function while the insect is soft-bodied and 

 unable to fly, and that therefore they disappear when no longer needed, 



