eggs of Hemiptera. 193 



on this being done, it appeared that each egg was an 

 object similar to that of which a longitudinal section is 

 shown in fig. 4, Plate IX. 



Each egg is, in fact, a cylinder divided into two tiers, 

 the lower of which is about two-thirds of the whole 

 length, and is the egg proper; while the upper tier is a 

 capsule containing the peculiar floral object. This cap- 

 sule and its contents are of so remarkable a nature, and 

 their functions are so problematical, that I think it 

 advisable to describe their structure, so far as I have 

 been able to observe it. The capsule is somewhat con- 

 stricted in the middle, and the orifice at the top (fig. 4, o) 

 forms the entrance to a dependent tube, which hangs 

 down nearly as far as the middle of the length of the 

 capsule. 



The structure contained in the capsule I will call the 

 cone ; a section of it is shown in fig. 5, Plate TX. It is 

 a quite hard structure of almost glassy consistency ; 

 it is not regularly conical in form, but is more like a 

 truncated cone surmounted by a spike ; from the sides 

 of the part where the truncation occurs there extends a 

 delicate lace-work structure, becoming divergent as it 

 ascends, and coming into contact with the sides of the 

 capsule, with which, indeed, the delicate lace-work is 

 almost certainly continuous. 



The chamber occupying the lower part of the cylinder 

 is the egg proper, in which the embryo is developed. In 

 fig. 6 is explained the way in which the insect emerges ; 

 the embryo, pushing upwards, lifts the cone contained 

 in the superior capsule, whose point, as we have seen, 

 projects into the dependent tube of the capsule, and the 

 capsule is thus ruptured, as exhibited in b, fig. 6 ; the 

 embryo, continuing to ascend, the cone is pushed out of 

 the capsule (c, fig. 6), and falls away, and the insect then 

 emerges, leaving the empty egg-shell, as shown in d, 



fig- 6- 



The bunch of eggs, of which I am writing, had been 



killed by Mr. Goodman at exactly the right moment for 



allowing us to understand this process of emergence, the 



various stages of the act being displayed on different 



parts of this example. 



The parasitic Hymenoptera had also just emerged ; 



the holes they had made for this purpose are displayed 



at the lower part of fig. 2, and above them are seen some 



q2 



