Oct. 21, i9i8 The Meadow Plant Bug, Miris dolabratus 189 



a swaying movement forward and backward working the tip of the ovi- 

 positor slowly into the stem. If unable to start it promptly, she may 

 shift her position and reinsert the beak, then begin again with the ovi- 

 positor. When the point of the ovipositor has been thrust in, evidently 

 at the point where it has penetrated the outer wall of the stem, the body 

 is pushed forward and the ovipositor pushed strongly downward and 

 backward till it is embedded its full length. A few contractions of the 

 abdominal segments serve to slip the egg along the ovipositor, a scarcely 

 visible operation from the outside, and the ovipositor is quickly with- 

 drawn. The slit in the stem closes up so as to be entirely invisible. The 

 egg is held by an operculum. The insect takes a short interval of rest 

 or may renew the process almost immediately, eggs being laid at the rate 

 of one every minute or minute and half to two minutes. On the with- 

 drawal of the ovipositor, she feels with her beak the point where the egg 

 was inserted, moves forward a trifle, and again feels the surface with the 

 beak, apparently relaxes a little and then, rubbing the fore tarsi together 

 and holding them free, vibrates the joints as if to limber up after the 

 severe exertion of forcing the ovipositor into the stem, and proceeds to 

 lay another egg. About 20 eggs have been laid in the course of half an 

 hour, and this is about the highest number usually found in a series in 

 stems collected in the field. 



That eggs are laid on different days was shown by one female which 

 laid about 20 one afternoon between 4 and 5 o'clock, 11 on the following 

 day at about the same hour, and 6 the third day between 4.40 and 4.50 

 p. ni. She may have laid others when not under observation, as 52 

 eggs were later counted in the stems in which she had oviposited, and 

 these were pretty surely all laid by this one female. As she was dead 

 on the morning of the sixth day after the first oviposition had been 

 seen, she may have laid eggs possibly on four or five days, but certainly 

 most of them laid after she was under observation must have been 

 deposited during three days. It is rather striking that the eggs should 

 be laid on successive days at so near the same time of day. In other 

 instances oviposition was observed in the morning, but the time of day 

 may be fairly uniform for each female. This long interval affords the 

 insect an opportunity to rest, probably to feed, and may also be asso- 

 ciated with the maturing of the eggs or their adjustment in the oviducts. 



The insects disappear rapidly after the egg-laying period, so quickly 

 in fact that we were much puzzled as to their whereabouts. An ex- 

 amination within a day or two, especially after the grass had been cut, 

 would show scarcely an insect where they had been numerous; therefore 

 a special effort was made to follow them after the mowing. The males, 

 of course, could fly readily, but they show a tendency to cling pretty 

 closely to the grass and might be carried from the fields with the hay. 

 The females cling still more closely to the grass, the short-winged ones 

 making no attempt to fly, and the long-winged ones having apparently 



