( Ixxviii ) 



A FAMILY RAISED BY W. A. LaMBORN FROM PARENTS 

 BELONGING TO TWO FORMS OF WeST AfRICAN PyRRHOCORID 



BUGS. — Prof. Poulton exhibited two Pyrrliocorid bugs 

 captured in cop. by Mr. W. A. Lamborn, Nov. 19, 1913, at 

 Moor Plantation, near Ibadan, S. Nigeria. The male was 

 the uniform, patternless, dull ochreous insect known as 

 Dysdercus melanoderes, Karscb, while the female exhibited the 

 conspicuous pattern of D. super stitiosus, F. Mr. Lamborn 

 had informed him that all the 11 offspring which he had 

 succeeded in rearing were of the same form as the female 

 parent, viz. super stitiosus. The eggs began to hatch on Nov. 

 26. Nine out of the 11 had been received from Mr. Lamborn 

 and were exhibited to the meeting. Three of them had been 

 sucked dry by the others, one having been attacked while 

 changing its skin, while the other two had apparently fallen 

 victims when in a soft condition soon after ecdysis. The first 

 specimen reached maturity on Dec. 23, the last died on 

 Jan. 20. All 9 offspring were females. The sexes of some 

 of the specimens were rather difficult to determine with 

 precision and Prof. Poulton had therefore submitted the 

 series to Miss Foot, who has had a long and intimate experi- 

 ence in the breeding of Hemiptera. 



The results described above suggested the possibility that 

 melanoderes might be the male of super stitiosus — a conclusion 

 negatived by the fact that both sexes of each form had been 

 captured by Mr. Lamborn and were also present in the 

 collection of the Natural History Museum. Some of these 

 latter specimens were in very poor condition, but Prof. 

 Poulton believed that there were 7 males and 4 females 

 of melanoderes, 3 males and 12 females of super stitiosus. The 

 reversal of proportions might be significant. Mr. Lamborn 

 had written Nov. 26, 1913 : " Superstitiosus occurs in thousands 

 on cotton, but hitherto melanoderes has been comparatively 

 rare." 



The experiments were well worth repeating on a larger 

 scale and extending, if possible, over a series of generations. 

 Until this was done any further discussion of the results was 

 premature, 



Euliphyra sjostedti, Auriv., a correction. — Prof. 



