86 N. S. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



OVIPOSITION. 



Frequent dissections were made of the hibernated females and. when mature eggs 

 were first found, on June 1st, a number of adults of both sexes were brought into the 

 laboratory and placed beneath lantern globes cages over sheep sorrel plants. Though 

 close watch was kept over the insects no copulation or oviposition was observed and by 

 June 26th all the insects had died. The plants were severely injured and appeared to 

 have been poisoned by the feeding punctures of the bugs, as they continued to wilt and 

 shrivel up long after all the insects had died. From these apparently dead plants, how- 

 ever, nymphs began to emerge on July 2nd and on closer examination eggs 

 could be found in the tissues of the stems. 



Examination in laboratory and field showed that the eggs were laid diagonally 

 under the si in of the fiower stems and leaf petioles, causing a slight swelling, the tip 

 being flush with, or protruding very slightly from the surface. They may be deposited 

 singly or in groups of two or three one above the other, and on the large flower stem 

 a red border surrounds the egg puncture, in the centre of which the white tip of the egg 

 may be plainly seen. Eggs are occasionally inserted through the midrib of a leaf near 

 its base so that the egg protrudes for half its length from the other side. One egg was 

 even found loose at the base of the petiole. The foregoing refers only to the eggs of the 

 hibernated females. No eggs of the spring brood were deposited in the sorrel as far as we 

 could discover. These were found, for the most part, in the petioles and midribs of 

 beets and mangolds. They were not inserted near enough to the surface to cause swell- 

 ing, though their tips were distinctly visible. Young nymphs were found abundant 

 on white turnips, very probably from eggs deposited in that plant. 



According to Crosby and Leonard (8) Slingerland, in his notes on this insect, re- 

 cords his observation of a female actually in the act of oviposition in the following 

 words: — -"I saw one egg laid, the time occupied in the oviposition being nearly a minute. 

 The ovipositor was sunk in the tissue of the midrib nearly to its full extent." He also re- 

 cords that the eggs are occasionally inserted into the blossom of dahlias, sometimes to 

 the number of eight. These workers, in the same bulletin, further record the finding of 

 eggs deposited in the tender tips of peach nursery stock and in the flower heads of the 

 daisy blossom (Erigeron ramosus). Taylor (2) and Collinge (5) describe the oviposition 

 in young apple fruit. Chittenden and Marsh (3) record finding the eggs inserted in the 

 upper side of the leaf of kale. They further state that in the case of the mullein which 

 is the food plant for the purpose in the District of Columbia, the eggs are inserted in the 

 petiole or leaf stem and in the midrib. The eggs are placed very close together and in 

 confinement, as many as nine were counted on a single leaf an inch long and half as wide. 

 Regarding this point, Haseman (5) writes as follows: "In this region it deposits its eggs 

 in the fall of the year at least, only in the blossoms of flowers such as daisies, alters, 

 mare's tail (Erigeron canadensis) etc." 



It is uncertain, from the writings of the foregoing authors, just what brood they 

 had under observation, as the exact number never appears to have been determined 

 with certainty. 



LENGTH OF INCUBATION PERIOD. 



By confining a very large number of adults upon plants for a single day we were 

 able to obtain a small number of eggs laid at practically the same time. In this way, we 

 were able to determine that the incubation period was from nine to eleven days, five 

 hatching the ninth day, three the next and one on the eleventh day. Doubtless the 

 temperature conditions prevailing during the period of incubation would modify it to 

 some extent. 



DURATION OF FIRST BROOD. 



Adults of the first brood were taken on July 6th on sorrel in the field, these being 



