30 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 157. 



He usually draws near gradually, by successive stages, stealthily. Quite 

 a time is spent in covering the short distance, often too much it would 

 seem, for very frequently the female will walk off or fly away before he 

 reaches her. Sometimes, however, he will draw near at once, and, after 

 a period of variable length of almost perfect quiet, will mount her in the 

 usual way, or land on her back, apparently, by means of a well -calculated 

 leap or jump. Not infrequently he may endeavor to mount the female 

 wliile the latter is engaged in piercing the epidermis of the leaf for feeding 

 purposes. 



The sight of a couple in copulation excites the male quickly. It is not 

 unusual to see two males upon one female, and as many as four have been 

 observed. Id one instance, in confinement, a male was observed trying 

 to mate with a dead female, lying near by, on being shaken off by a couple 

 already united. 



That the instinct for mating is very strongly developed in the males was 

 evidenced by their attempts, when confined together by themselves, 

 without previously having had access to females, to mate with each other. 

 In such cases one male would yield to the other just hke a female. 



When connected, the male rests upon the back of the female, his anterior 

 legs grasping her thorax on top between the bases of the wings ; the wings 

 are spread apart just enough to accommodate the male. His intermediate 

 legs grasp the sides of her abdomen about in the middle, or more usually, 

 somewhat posterior to the middle, the posterior legs grasping the sides 

 of the abdomen at some point beyond. The abdomen of the male curves 

 downward and slightly forward to meet the genital opening of the female, 

 and the last abdominal segment of the latter is normally raised somewhat 

 above its usual level, due to the insertion of the copulatory organ of the 

 male. 



During copulation the female with the male upon her back stands 

 quietly in one place, apparently, moving only when disturbed or when 

 she is desirous of ridding herself of him. In the latter case, she is usually 

 very restless, moving about continually, and in addition, endeavoring with 

 great energy to kick him off. The male is perfectly quiet, excepting that 

 now and then he may raise himself slightly and shake himself very violently, 

 as if desiring to break loose. 



On separating, the male immediately or soon after flies away. The 

 female, on the other hand, remains quietly in place, or she may move to 

 another part of the leaf and then come to rest. Immediately after, or 

 after a short period of inactivity, she begins to protrude and retract her 

 ovipositor in quick succession, repeating this, as a rule, a number of times, 

 at irregular intervals. 



She then engages in what seems like a cleaning operation, brushing the 

 apex of her abdomen with her hind legs, and in turn rubbing these legs 

 against each other and against the wings, the two legs against one wing, 

 the wing being held between them, and each one against the wing on 



