CONORHINUS RUBROFASCIATUS: BREEDING, ETC. 491 



number of observations which have been carried out throughout the year 

 with bred specimens in the laboratory, it has been found that the larvae 

 which hatch out of eggs laid in May and June become adults in 

 September and -October ; the larvae which hatch from eggs laid by these 

 adults towards the end of October and during November become adults 

 in February and March. The wild adults are seldom seen in houses 

 before November, and again in June and July. 



A large number of observations have been made on the length of life 

 and number of eggs laid by females in captivity. In each case a male 

 was kept in the tube along with a female, and as the 

 batches of eggs were laid they were transferred to Le^h of life and 



t u * u TH, i u c A i uu-. number of eggs laid 



a iresn tube. The adults w f ere ted regularly on rabbits 



once a week. The longest period a female has lived under these condi- 

 tions was 120 days, and during this time seventy eggs were laid in five 

 batches of from five to thirty-one eggs ; this female fed twelve times. 

 Another female lived thirty-three days and laid 201 eggs in eight batches 

 of from twenty-six to thirty-two eggs. The male rubrofasciatus rarely 

 lives more than forty days in captivity, and during this period seldom 

 feeds more than five or six times. 



It is comparatively easy to breed Conorhinus rubrofasciatus in captivity. 

 It is only necessary to catch a female and to place it in a large test tubes 



a piece of filter paper should be placed at the bottom of 



. , , n i Breeding technique 



the tube for the bug to rest on, and to absorb its fluid 



excreta, which are usually very plentiful. A day or two after the bug has 

 been captured it should be given an opportunity to feed. This is accom- 

 plished by first drawing up the filter paper to the mouth of the tube and 

 then either inverting it over one's arm or over the shaved back of a rabbit. 

 If the bug is going to feed it will soon commence to suck blood, and 

 will become replete in about ten minutes. These captured females 

 nearly always lay fertile eggs. Once the eggs have been obtained there 

 is no difficulty in breeding out a number of adults, mating them and 

 obtaining their eggs without ever allowing them to leave the test tube ; 

 the tubes containing the bugs should be placed upright in small glass 

 jars. The nymphs of the third and fourth stage are the most delicate, 

 and if they fall into the fluid excreta are apt to die. It is, therefore, 

 important at this stage to renew the filter paper every day or even 

 twice a day, especially if there is a large number of bugs in each tube. 

 From a single female captured in November, 1911, the authors have 

 bred out large numbers of adults and the experiments are still in 

 progress (October, 1913). 



