the cgg-cascs and early stages of some Cassididx. 17 



the Mantid ootbeca is formed of layers of matter, doubled, 

 as in the case of the membranes of Asindomorpha ; * soft 

 when emitted, and hardening on exposure to the atmo- 

 sphere, as is also the case with the membranes of Asjndo- 

 ■iiiorpha and with the simpler epichorion of Chrysomela 

 ■mcnthastri. 



Giardina's memoir gives a much better account than 

 any that has previously been given ; and the parallelism 

 between the biological facts in Mantidie and in Cassididie 

 is a point of considerable interest. 



Taxonomy of the oothecas here dealt with. 



The oothecas of the S, African CassididcV noticed in the 

 preceding pages fall into three very natural divisions. 



1. A covering of excrenientitious matter is added to tlie very small 



and imperfect ootheca which consists of only three or four 

 cells. Castiida, Laccopteva. 



2. There is no coat of excrenientitious matter. 



a. The ootheca is attached, at one extremity, to a leaf by one, 

 or a few special egg-less membranes ; and has a bilateral 

 symmetry. Anpidomorpha. 



h. The ootheca is attached Ijy a broad base to a leaf or round 

 a stem, by means of the egg-membranes ; has a concentric 

 symmetry, and consists of three differentiated strata, viz. 

 (c<) The eggs and their attached membranes, (6) a stratum 

 of agglutinated membranes forming a shell, (<•) a circum- 

 ferential layer of two or more series of large empty cells. 

 Basipta. 



In the genus Aspidomorjoha the ootheca of each species 

 examined has special characters by which it can be 

 recognized. 



There can be no question that the modes in which the 

 eggs of insects are deposited have a considerable bearing 

 on the numbers of individuals that are hatched. The 

 place where these oothecas have been discovered and 

 investigated by Muir is a large area of sand on the sea- 

 shore near Durban, covered by creeping plants and low 

 vegetation. It is on a large-leafed convolvulus — Ipomoxi 

 pcsca'prx — on these sand-hills that A. fmncticosta, the 

 species with the most perfected ootheca, feeds and forms 

 its egg-case. Eggs deposited on the leaf without any 



* I believe that in Mantid;e there are two kinds of colleterial 

 glands. — D. S. 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1904.— PART I. (APRIL) 2 



