438 PHOCEEBINGS OF THE THIBD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



Life-history. (Plate 78.) 



On the ninth to tenth day after maturity, the female begins to lay 

 eggs in the tissues of the sheathing leaves. At times, when the hoppers 

 are at their Vorst, eggs may be seen laid in the tissues of midribs of leaves 

 as well as in the edges. But such cases were rather the exception than 

 the rule. In working out the hfe-hi story of the pests at Pusa, I found 

 the eggs laid invariably in the edges of the sheathing leaves to stems. 

 There is nothing to show externally the place or places where the eggs 

 have been laid. If, however, a close examination is made of the spots 

 "where eggs have been laid with a hand lens, a slight swelhng will be 

 apparent. There is no whitish froth or any whitish cretaceous hairs 

 deposited on the eggs to make them conspicuous objects, especially 

 against the greenish background of the leaves. The female when about 

 to lay eggs approaches the edge of a sheathing leaf, makes a longitudinal 

 slit with her strong ovipositor and deposits the eggs in quick succession. 

 The eggs when laid freshly are pale-yellow with two dull red spots. The 

 number of eggs laid varies from 22 to as high as 37. In a specific instance 

 under observation, a female was found to deposit 34 eggs in a slit 9 mm. 

 long. 



When the nymph emerges a slit opens at the apex represented by two 

 deep maroon-coloured specks and the head is thrust out. The nymph 

 then squirms from side to side until it is clear out of the egg-shell. It 

 then presents a shiny appearance and is enveloped in a thin membrane 

 which on exposure ruptures allowing the nymph to move ^bout, leaving 

 the amnion attached to tlie apex of the empty egg-shell as a thin crumpled 

 pellicle. The eggs were found parasitized by a small, pale yellow Chal- 

 cidid. The parasitized eggs turn black and the adult Chalcidid emerges 

 after making a clean, circular hole in the egg-shell. After the emergence 

 of the parasites, the empty parasitized egg-shells appear deep, fuscous 

 brown with their apices black. The number of parasitized eggs was not 

 large, and the parasite could in no sense be reckoned as an effective 

 check to the development of the hoppers. 



The nymph on coming out of the egg-shell is active and after only a 

 few seconds begins to move about on the leaf. After moving up and down 

 the leaf for a few minutes it soon selects a spot where it fixes itself, and 

 begins to suck the juice. It then exudes the honey-dew which falls on 

 the lower leaves and accunmlates there. The nymphs are very active 

 and jump off \vith the least disturbance. During the hottest part of 

 the day they may be seen clustered together in enormous numbers below 

 leaves. If, therefore, an infested leaf be held up to the hght, it will be 

 found to contain a number of punctures representing the spots where the 

 nymphs and the adults had thrust their rostra to suck the sap which 



