l6 ' THE SqUASH BUG 



arrangement of the individual eggs in adjacent rows there is 

 generally a tendency to alternation. As a rule the eggs are 

 laid on the lower surface of the leaf, but very often, especially 

 when the insects are abundant, they are deposited on the 

 upper surface. 



The same bug may lay her eggs in several clusters. This 

 very commonly occurred in the breeding cages when the 

 insects were disturbed while ovipositing. Instances where it 

 occurs in the field are not infrequent. Sometimes but one or 

 two or tiiree eggs will be found upon the leaf. In one of the 

 breeding cages one bug laid twenty-four eggs at one time and 

 later laid forty-three eggs in a batch. She afterwards mated 

 again, but died from the efiects of a parasite before she depos- 

 ited more eggs. 



When first laid the eggs are covered with a very fine film of 

 an adhesive substance of a whitish color. In the course of an 

 hour the color changes to a pale yellow-brown, and by the end 

 of a day changes to a fairly dark yellow-brown with a glossy 

 surface. In about eight days the color becomes a bronze 

 brown ; and in twelve days it becomes a coppery bronze, 

 which is yet darker a day or two before hatching. One 

 familiar with these color changes can tell approximately how 

 long the eggs have been laid. 



The egg is a small rounded object more or less triangular in 

 its general outline. It is of nearly equal length and thickness, 

 about 1-16 inch long by 1-20 wide. In some cases one end is 

 more pointed than the other, while in others the ends are 

 rounded alike. The side of the egg attached to the leaf is 

 flatter than the other sides ; sometimes it is even bent inward. 

 In eggs that have been separated from the leaf one can see an 

 interruption of the generally glossy surface : this is the place 

 where the egg was attached. 



The eggs of the squash bug hatch in from six to fifteen days 

 after being laid. In the field they rarely hatch in less than 

 seven days while in the relatively cooler rooms of a building 

 they rarely hatch in less than eight days. In the field our 

 observations indicate an average of eleven days while in the 

 laboratory it was twelve days. 



When the tiny bug hatches, a small disc-like portion of the 



