MINOR MUD AND WATER FOLK. 133 



enemy of farmers. But there are lids to these 



blackberry-leaf barrels, or at least 



there is a rim around each top edged 



with little hairs, and when the young ~i 



bug has cut its way out with a neat- Eggs on back of 



ness and accuracy that could not be blackberry leaf, 



i i enlarged. 



surpassed, behold the " cutest white 

 lid in the world stands just a crack open on top 

 of the empty, almost transparently-white " bar- 

 rel." You can take a pin and open the lid if you 

 do not push too hard. If you are not careful, 

 though, it will come entirely off. There seems 

 to be a sort of dark projection on the middle 

 of the open side of the lid. Perhaps it is some- 

 thing to keep the lid part-way open when the 

 young bug is crawling out. Who knows ? 



The eggs are placed in quite regular rows. I 

 have found the fourteen in rows of the following 

 numbers : three, four, four, three. In another 

 case the fourteen were in this order : four, four, 

 four with the second one raised above the others, 

 two. 



The young bugs that come from such eggs are 

 of necessity small. They are six-legged, 

 with broad ending antenna, and the 

 front half of each body is reddish brown, 

 while the hinder half is lighter with four L itt i e 

 brown marks, and a row of brownish bug a day 



. old, en- 



dots torming an edge to the body. larged. 



These less than pin-head-size larval bugs have 



