Oct. 31. i9i8 The Meadow Plant Bug, Miris dolabratus 187 



due to the greater activity of the males which enables them to avoid the 

 net. The disparity is not so great, and a fairly equal proportion of males 

 and females may be assumed. F'or the macropterous and brachypterous 

 forms of the female, however, there is very evidently a decided dispro- 

 portion, amounting in the captures at Orono to about i to 9 — that is, 

 90 per cent of the short-winged to 10 per cent of the long- winged. Of 

 125 collected on July 11, 51 (40.8 per cent) were males and 74 (59.2 per 

 cent) females. Of the females, 72 were short-winged and 2 long-winged. 



This disproportion seems to be still further magnified by the greater 

 number of eggs developed in the short-winged forms. 



There is some reason to think that the long-winged females develop 

 slightly earlier than the short-winged ones, and possibly there is some 

 scattering of these and an earlier egg deposition; therefore observations 

 to correct or verify this point are desirable. 



As usually found in the field, the brachypterous forms were much 

 more evident and undoubtedly constitute the main source of egg pro- 

 duction. They usually show much greater distension of the abdomen, 

 and are full of well -developed eggs at time of mating. They are so heavy 

 they would probably fly with difficulty even if the wings were not aborted. 

 As it is, they can not fly at all, make no attempt to use the wings, but 

 drop or flutter helplessly to the ground when thrown into the air; hence 

 they must necessarily lay their eggs in the immediate vicinity of the place 

 where they have hatched and grown. No mating of long-winged females 

 was observed, but this is not strange and does not warrant the assumption 

 that they are unfertilized. 



EGG PRODUCnON 



The dissection of a number of individuals when fairly mature as well 

 as the number of eggs deposited by individuals under observation indi- 

 cates an egg production of from 60 to 70 for each brachypterous female. 

 One dissected macropterous female contained 60 eggs, but all others had 

 from none to 15. Of those dissected on July 11, 27 contained a total of 

 58, 21 had none (it is barely possible they had completed oviposition) , 

 4 had 10 or more, the highest being 15 each. 



If these figures can be taken as at all representative of average con- 

 ditions, it means that on the basis of an average of 70 eggs per individual 

 for the brachypterous and of 2 for the macropterous form, and assuming 

 that 10 per cent were macropterous, the macropterous would produce 

 but one three hundredths of the eggs, which would be an almost negligible 

 number as affecting dispersal and would raise some interesting biological 

 questions concerning the survival of the brachypterous form. However, 

 as already hinted, these figures must be considered as representing a 

 very limited period and were obtained before we had sufficient acquaint- 

 ance with the species to secure proper checks. 



