66 
PSYCHE 
[J une-August 
A, although under optimum conditions, and cared for better than the others, 
did not reach its full growth until thirteen ( 13) days after B, which was fed less 
frequently. This serves to show, that no matter what the conditions, even if 
uniform for many individuals, the instars would vary considerably for the indi- 
viduals. If comparisons are made with the foregoing, however, it will be seen 
quite readily, that the difference between A and B is due to difficulty in feeding 
A, owing to the latter’s individual incapability of taking sufficient food at a 
single meaB. 
4. Feeding habits; some considerations. 
The nymphs are very voracious, and at a single meal gorge themselves 
until unable to hold more. The time therefore given to each meal is limited by 
the capacity or size of the nymph at the time of any one meal, the capacity of 
course depending upon, or rather being more or less bounded by, the different 
instars. Hence, in each instar, the time taken for any single meal is more or 
less definite, shorter in the earlier, longer in the later instars, as the capacity is 
less in the earlier, greater in the later instars. 
For its first meal after hatching, in instar I, it requires on the average, 
about three (3) minutes to glut itself, and if another meal is taken in this instar, 
a slightly longer period. In instar II, five (5) minutes; in instar III, six (6) 
minutes; in instar IV, eight (8) minutes; in instar V, ten (10) minutes, and when 
adult, from ten (10) to fifteen (15) minutes. These may be taken as averages, 
as the time for individuals varies somewhat. 
.As the nymphs very rarely take more than a single meal during an instar, 
probably being unable to do so, in many cases, before developmental processes 
hurry them on to another ecdysis, and as the adults are apparently unable to 
feed again after a full meal for at least forty-eight (48) hours, it is strongly in- 
dicated that visits to the host are limited in point of time to that consumed in 
obtaining a full meal. This varies, as has been shown, from three (3) to fifteen 
(15) minutes according to age. 
Limited observations covering a period of three years would seem to con- 
firm this comforting fact, but it cannot be stated as a definite certainty. It is, 
however, in the writer’s opinion, highly probable. But if the bugs are at all 
a. The length of time required to rear these two nymphs compares favorably in regard to climate, with the 
4g days required for those reared at Washington, D. C. See Howard (1901.) 
