496 Mr. W. A. Lamborn on the 
length of time the female is engaged in oviposition and 
her apparent insensibility to any danger which may be 
threatening her must certainly necessitate the careful 
selection of a site on which she is least likely to be subject 
to attack, and though on a green stem Leptocentrus is a 
conspicuous object, on a brown stem her dark colour and 
her shape are, I am sure, of cryptic value, so that she is 
likely to be detected only by the practised eye. The egg- 
mass forms an oval structure about 10 mm. long and 8 mm. 
broad, and the eggs are arranged in parallel rows often 
superimposed. See the accompanying figure [which shows 
a condition very different from that described in two 
Membracids by J. C. Kershaw, I. c. pp. 191, 192]. 
Egg-mass of Leptocentrus altifrons: x about 43. 
Hatching and the earliest larval stages—The following 
note describes the hatching of larvae which I am now 
confident are those of L. altifrons :— 
No. 53. “ On Jan. 2, 1912, I watched some Membracid 
larvae hatching. When first seen, the tiny larvae were 
just starting to come out of the 2 egg-masses side by side 
on a twig of Triumfetta. Two or 3 had left the eggs and 
were huddled together } inch higher up the stem. No 
ants were present. When seen again on Jan. 4, hatching 
was still in progress and a mass of larvae had collected 
about an inch above the eggs. The uppermost larvae, 
viz. those first hatched, were at least double the size of 
the lowest, and, on the twig below the mass, tiny scattered 
larvae were crawling up to join the rest of the community. 
