140 HEMIPTERA. 



are laid under this scale, the body of the mother 

 diminishing in size to make room for them. Finally 

 the dried and shrunken remains of the body are added 

 to the scale in the interior, which, thus completed, 

 becomes an efficient shelter for the eggs and young 

 larvae when hatched. These facts are as impressive 

 and remarkable as any that have ever come within the 

 observation of naturahsts. Nevertheless they can be 

 observed, and the different stages collected by chil- 

 dren. It is not difficult to see on the under sides of 

 the scales the remnants of the abdomen of the mother, 

 whose body has thus been transformed into a house 

 for the protection of her children. 



The early larval life of the male is similar to that of 

 the female, according to Comstock.^ Both lose their 

 antennae and legs with the first moult, and the second 

 (the last in the female) occurs at the same time. The 

 metamorphosis of the male, however, is indirect. 

 After remaining quiescent for a time, it casts its skin, 

 and the adult that appears after this last moult posses- 

 ses antennae and legs, and is a perfect form. It, how- 

 ever, has one peculiarity which may mislead the young 

 observer, and cause him to think it a member of 

 another order, the Diptera. It has but one pair of 

 wings, and, like the flies, the hinder pair have become 

 reduced to a pair of minute, elongated appendages. 

 These consist of two club-shaped organs called " hal- 

 teres," each furnished with a club-shaped bristle 

 which fits into a pocket on the anterior wing of the 



1 See An. Rep. Dept. Ag., 1880; also, Second Rep. Cornell 

 Universiiy Experiment Station, 1883; Introduction to Ento- 

 mology, pp. 134-155- 



