192 Journal of Agricultural Research vo1.xv,no.3 



The nymphs are yellow marked with black, the general color being 

 quite dark in the early instars and becoming lighter with the successive 

 molts. 



DESCRIPTIONS OP BARLY STAGES 

 THE EGG 



The egg of Miris dolabratus is of quite unusual shape and shows a quite 

 remarkable adaptation to its anchorage in the stems of plants. It is 

 of elongate-oval and strongly curx^ed especially near the head or attached 

 end, which expands slightly from a constriction in the curved part and 

 is surmounted by a large flat chorionic membranous expansion or oper- 

 culum, the width and length of which is nearly one-fourth that of the egg 

 itself (fig. i). The egg is shining, polished with a dense chorion, and 

 when placed in the stem with the operculum held firmly in the wall 

 stands out into the hollow of the stem. In clover stems they may be 

 embedded partly in the pithy layer lining the stem. The eggs are fully 

 developed in the ovaries soon after the adults mature and show fully 

 the enlarged opercula. The position of micropile and the route of 

 entry for the spermatozoa is undetermined, though it would seem almost 

 necessarily through the operculum. Egg length, 1.35 mm., diameter 

 0,25 mm. (fig. i). 



FIRST INSTAR 



' The smallest individuals found, and evidently first-instar individuals 

 partly grown, were 2.25 to 2.50 mm. long. The color is quite dusky or 

 blackish, the antennae and legs being entirely black, except a slighf: 

 pale portion of membrane at joints. The head above is blackish with 

 yellow area next the eye; beneath it is yellow. The thorax is yellow, 

 with a broad black stripe on either side; or it may be black with the 

 median and the marginal line yellow. The abdomen is brown, the 

 lateral stripe being yellow, and an oblique patch on each segment is 

 yellow. Beneath the abdomen is brown, with the hinder border of seg- 

 ments yellow. 



The antennae have a total length of 2 mm.; the second and third 

 segments are equal in length, slightly longer than the fourth and twice 

 as long as the first, the fourth being about as thick as the third. The 

 beak extends to the hind coxte and is thick. 



SECOND INSTAR 



The insect in the second instar resembles the first in color, being dusky 

 though of a trifle lighter color and showing more of the greenish gray 

 of the later stages. This color becomes more pronounced as the insect 

 grows during the instar, especially for the margins of the thorax and 

 abdomen. The wing pads are very slightly indicated as blunt lobes on 

 the hinder borders of mesothorax and metathorax. The antennae are 



