642 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



surface and each other at the sides by means of a sticky secretion. In 

 arrangement each egg is disposed in an inclined plane leaning towards the 

 side of its neighbour. The shape of each egg resembles an ovoid conical 

 jar broader at the base and gradually narrowing towards the distal free 

 end. At this later region there is a circular operculum or lid which is 

 separated off as a thin hard disc when the embryo emerges from within 

 the egg shell. When this lid is off, the distal end of the shell shows a 

 slightly raised circular rim bounding the opening. The egg capsule is 

 lined inside by a very thin whitish membrane. The outer surface is 

 rough and is covered with uneven reticulations giving it a rugose appear- 

 ance. The general colour of the eggs may be put down as pale whitish 

 with dark spots here and there. In this group there were in all 20 eggs. 



The first nymph emerged on the 3rd September ; as it was not known 

 when the eggs were laid by the parent insect ; it may safely be stated that 

 it takes not less than sixteen days for the eggs to hatch out. The just- 

 hatched nymph is a slender comparatively elongate creature with the 

 limbs and antennse very prominent; the antennse being as long as the body 

 itself. At this stage the insect is 10 m.m. long. It is of a pale whitish 

 green colour. Each side of the body from the eye backwards has a darker 

 hue. The hinder two pairs of limbs are of an orange brown colour. The 

 body and limbs are hairy. When at rest the nymph keeps the front legs 

 and antennse stretched forwards and the hindlegs backwards almost 

 parallel to the body ; this gives the creature the appearance often assumed 

 by certain spiders. When touched the insect is so very delicate that one 

 or more of its legs get broken generally below the trochanter, though these 

 broken limbs are gradually repaired. 



The first moult took place ten days after emergence from the egg and 

 after this the insect passed two or three moults, but these were not 

 correctly noted. 



JSot knowing the particular foodplant on which the insect generally 

 feeds, great difficulty was experienced in keeping alive the young nymphs 

 and many different kinds of leaves were tried for their food. A good many 

 of them died before the first moult. After a few days the nymphs — whether 

 due to necessity or liking I cannot say — ^began to appreciate the leaves of 

 Hibiscus esculentus, and they were fed on this leaf regularly afterwards. 

 The nymphs appear to be fond of water, drops of which they lapped often 

 with apparent satisfaction. 



Out of the seven or eight nymphs that continued vigorous for several 

 days after hatching, only one lived to assume the adult stage. This 

 completed the embryonic stage on the 12th December, three months and 

 nine days after birth. The wing pads showed themselves early in 

 December. 



The adult has the hind wings well developed reaching the very end of 

 the abdomen, while the first pair or tegmina are very short, hardly a third 

 of an inch in length. The insect appears to belong to Dr. Sharp's group 

 of Necroscides (Cambridge Natural History, Insects, Part I, p. 278) and 

 the species is perhaps one of the genus ' Calvisia ' figured in Sharp {loc. 

 cit, p. 273). Thus the developmental period from egg to adult may be 

 roughly put down to be not less than four months, the following being the 

 periods passed in the different stages : — 

 Egg — not less than 16 days. 

 Embryo — 3 months and nine days. 

 Compared with that of Phyllium scythe, which takes 15 or 16 months to pass 

 the embryonic stage, the life-history of our present species is probably 

 shorter ; but we cannot be sure of this, since the eggs might have been 

 laid months ago. 



