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XVIII. Notes on Maternal Instinct in Rhynchota. By 

 Frederick P. Dodd. Communicated by 

 Oliver Janson, F.E.S. 



[Read Marcli IStli, 1904.] 



Plate XXVIII. 



Mr. Kirkaldy's very interesting notes upon this subject, 

 in the " Entomologist," remind me that about the month 

 of June, 1901, I took a large oval, flat, and pale-green bug 

 upon one of our so-called " Bitter Barks " {Pctalostigma 

 quadrilocidarc). Adhering to her abdomen underneath 

 were three or four young ones, certainly several days old ; 

 these dropped off several hours after, when placed in the 

 kiUing bottle. Subsequently I sent these specimens, with 

 some miscellaneous material, to Mr. W. W. Froggatt, sup- 

 plying him with the particulars mentioned ; but as he did 

 not even refer to the bugs when acknowledging the parcel, 

 I naturally assumed that my discovery was unimportant. 

 There were more of the insects upon the trees at the time, 

 but I was not interested in them then, and contented 

 myself with the single old one. I searched the trees care- 

 fully later, but the long-continued drought of 1901-2 

 appears to have caused the extinction of the species here. 

 However, I determined to keep a sharp look-out in the 

 hope of meeting with another affectionate bug, and ere 

 long I was rewarded by noticing a female of the large, 

 rather common, and widely-distributed species, Tcctocoris 

 lineola, var. banlsi, Don., standing over a cluster of about 

 sixty eggs. I observed her closely for several days, and 

 then took her and the ova home. At the end of a fortnight 

 she abandoned the eggs, and flew about my room, but 

 none hatched ; they had been interfered with before I 

 took them, some had disappeared and others seemed to 

 have been punctured. Meantime I had discovered a 

 patch of shrubs, in a locality which I rarely visited, where 

 these bugs were fairly plentiful, amongst them being 

 about fifteen females protecting their egg-clusters. Even- 

 tually, June 28th, 190.3, I found one bug depositing, and 



TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1904. — PART III. (SEPT.) 



