INSECTS AND PLANTS 79 



slightly longer, stouter, and lighter-coloured than the 

 male. The abdomen of the female is black, banded with 

 red ; the thorax is provided with two rows of long bristles, 

 curving backwards ; the legs are long, and the wings are 

 smoky black. The males, in addition to the differences 

 already mentioned, have larger antennae than the females. 

 According to Herrick, the female lays her eggs "in the 

 long creases or furrows of the upper surface of the leaves 

 of the young wheat plant (fig. 18, B). While depositing 

 her eggs, the insect stands with her head toward the point 

 or extremity of the leaf, and at various distances between 

 the point and where the leaf joins and surrounds the stalk. 

 The number found on a single leaf varies from a single 

 egg up to thirty or even more. The egg is about a fiftieth 

 of an inch long (fig. 18, A), cylindrical, rounded at the ends, 

 glossy and translucent, of a pale red colour, becoming in a 

 few hours irregularly spotted with deeper red. Between 

 its exclusion and its hatching, these red spots are continu- 

 ally changing in number, size, and position ; and sometimes 

 nearly all disappear. A little while before hatching, two 

 lateral rows of opaque white spots, about ten in number, 

 can be seen in each egg. In a few days, more or less, 

 according to the weather, the egg is hatched." When the 

 larva emerges from the egg it travels down the leaf, then, 

 passing within the leaf sheath, it takes up its position near 

 the base of the culm, a position that varies according to 

 whether the infested plant is spring or autumn wheat. 

 If the former, it will be above the first or second node ; if 

 the latter, close to the root and probably below the surface 

 of the ground. When the larva has taken up its position, 

 it moults and passes to its second stage, a sedentary, feed- 

 ing form, with a definite feeding period, during which it 

 takes up all the nourishment necessary for growth. After 

 about twenty days the larva shrinks in size ; its outer skin 

 forms a rigid sheath, within which it assumes the third 

 larval form. This last-mentioned change is quite foreign 



