14 Journal New York Entomoi.ogical Society. l\oi. xx\"i. 



covered. A more careful examination with dissecting needles re- 

 vealed some of the yellowish-white eggs already showing the red eye 

 spots, hidden between the closely approximated leaves. Some of them 

 seemed to lie on the upper concave side beneath the pale green sheath 

 of the moss leaf, as shown in the figure (PI. I, fig. 2). For the most 

 part they were concealed as shown in fig. 8, between the leaf and the 

 stem. 



In an endeavor to determine whether the female would ever place 

 the eggs in the tissues of plant stems, some females were confined in 

 a small stendcr dish with a leaf of moneywort, a soft stem of a dead 

 sedge, and a variety of moss having the leaf axils far apart, thus pro- 

 viding no hiding place for the eggs. Eggs were laid in the mat or 

 tangle of rootlets at the base of the moss and, in some instances, the 

 tip of one leaf was glued to the one above it and here two or three 

 eggs would be found as shown in the sketch (PI. I, fig. 4). 



Description of the Egg. 



Size. — .625 mm. by .325 mm. This represents the size shortly be- 

 fore hatching. Somewhat more slender when deposited. The eggs 

 are large for the size of the bug. One female measuring .925 mm. 

 across the prothorax contained four well-developed ova each meas- 

 uring .625 mm. Ijy .25 mm. The figures of the female abdomen and 

 the egg are drawn to the same scale (PI. I, figs. 3 and 2). 



Shape. — Elongate oval, ends rounded, length about two times the 

 width. 



Color. — Pearly white changing to yellowish white as embryo de- 

 velops within. Some appear to be surrounded by transparent gelatine. 

 Under the low power compound the surface of the egg is seen to be 

 covered by short iregularly arranged elevations. In the case of those 

 containing well-developed embryos the eyes show as pink spots and a 

 pair of black dots lie on the ventral side near the apex of the head. 



Newly Hatched Nymth. 



The nymph upon issuing from the egg casts a thin transparent 

 membrane which surrcnmds each appendage separately and is of the 

 nature of a true moult. This the writer proposes to designate the 

 postnatal moult. It is possessed by many hetero])tera and some other 

 insects observed by the writer. 



