THE MOULTING OF GREEN BUG 19 



angles to the surface of the body. The force exerted by 

 these means is considerable, as the proboscises of bugs 

 have been found driven through the bodies of other bugs 

 situated beneath them. Rarely the bug may be found 

 completely lifted off the leaf and balanced on the straight- 

 ened proboscis. Once the fixation is effected, the contact 

 with the leaf becomes so close that the outline of the bug 

 may be clearly impressed on the surface of the leaf. 



As with all insects, the development of the green bug 

 is accompanied by a periodic casting off of the skin which 

 is known as moulting. The number of moults Vhich 

 normally occur has not been definitely established. Green^ 

 states, " The number of stages separated by the casting of 

 the skin is believed to be three in the female, but as the 

 process of moulting in this family is very obscure, 

 the point requires confirmation." Koningsberger and 

 Zimmermann'^ state that after two moults the adult stage 

 is reached. Careful observations in the insectary here 

 have shown that the number of moults in C- colemani is 

 three and not two. There are thus three nymphal stages 

 or instars preceding the adult stage. 



The process of moulting in the green bug as found 

 in Mysore possesses certain peculiarities which have not 

 been clearly elucidated. The first moult appears to be 

 normal, the whole outer covering being involved, including 

 that of the rostral apparatus and the anal plates. The 

 second and third moults show a difference in that the 

 skin on the ventral surface only seems to be cast off by 

 what appears to be a peristaltic movement of the under 

 surface of the body. 



The cast-off skin comes out between the anal lobes 

 as a twisted shred, the first part to appear being that from 

 the anterior end. The chitinous plates and the upper 

 skin of the anal lobes are also involved but not any dorsal 

 portion further forward. An ink spot made on the dorsum 

 of the anterior part remains after the moult is completed, 

 showing that the dorsal skin in this region is not cast off. 

 The moulting described is in accord with the observation 

 made with regard to some other scale insects such as 

 Aspidiotus. Green^ writes, " The process of moulting in 

 the sub-family (to which green bug belongs) has remained 



' Green, Loc. cit., p. 173. 



^ Koningsberger and Zimmermann, Loc. cit., p. 7. 



* Green, CJoccidae of Ceylon, p. 173. 



/ C 2 



