SECTION V. — TRINIDAD FROGHOPPKR. 



59 



Duration. The egg stage lasts for a minimum of about two weeks 

 in favourable moist conditions, to a maximum of six months or more 

 when the dry season intervenes. 



There is some other factor concerned with the hatching which is not 

 yet understood, as in many cases thousands of eggs laid by the third 

 brood in October and November do not hatch to produce a fourlh brood, 

 even though two or three months of wet weather follow, buL stay at an 

 early stage of development during the remainder of the wet season and 

 throughout the dry season and then produce the enormous first brood 

 which sometimes occurs in certain localities. There is some evidence 

 that this may happen even with eggs from the second brood. 



In this connection Kershaw (1913 G. p. 99) gives some interesting 

 but confusing results obtained by Guppy showing that eggs collected in 

 December 1912 and kept dry for four months (till April '21st, 1913) did 

 not hatch regularly on being moistened, but irregularly over an interval 

 of from fourteen days to two months, and at the end of this period there 

 were still two healthy eggs not yet hatched. 



THE NYMPH. 



Descriiition and Moults. There has been some disagreement between 

 investigators as to the number of moults of the nymph. Urich (1910 

 C. & 1913 C.) considers that there are three moults after hatching 

 resulting in four nymph stages. Gough on the other hand (1911 C. 

 p. 13-14) describes five nymphal stages and Kershaw (1913 G. p. 97) 

 recognizes the same five stages but points out that the young nymph 

 moults as it hatches from the egg leaving behind the first skin, so that 

 there are six moults, the last of which produces the adult insect. 



I have been unable to distinguish the last stage mentioned by 

 Kershaw and Gough and consider that there are five moults including 

 that in the egg, and the last one which produces the adult insect. 



The four nymph stages after leaving the egg are shown in Fig. 9. 



/ B \ 



Pig-. 9. 



Fig. K— Tlie four nymi>h stages of the froghopper. 



