8U 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. II., No. 47. 



mind, that perhaps the.y laid their eggs here 

 too ; and acting inimediatelj' upon this, as 

 well as the suggestive fissures in their camp- 

 ing-ground caused l\y the sun, I proceeded to 

 investigate those likely places in which the}' 

 might deposit their ovicidar treasures. These 

 rents presented everv stage of being filled in 

 from one cause or another ; and I had hardly 

 commenced to scratch out the eartli from one 

 that was partiall}' in this condition, than I 

 came across masses of their eggs. They were 

 not easily observed at first, as I turned them 

 out with the stick I used in searching for 

 them, from the fact that thej' resembled linnps 

 of earth, as this substance adhered to their 

 entire surface, either dusted over, or in little 

 fragments, which latter rendered the resem- 

 blance still more deceptive. Mj' plate repre- 

 sents one of these masses, that has been well 

 cleaned off, in the lower right-hand corner 

 (marked A). I have four before me that were 

 collected at the time of my observations, and 

 one of these is that figured in the plate. 



The first of these masses that I pick up con- 

 tains about thirty-five eggs, of a like size and 

 shaije to those removed from the body of a 

 female sevei'al weeks before. They are in one 

 rather irregular layer, being placed roughly 

 parallel to each other, and entirely incased by 

 the pellets of earth that have adhered to the 

 mass. No true egg-pod was observed to en- 

 close them ; but, judging from the waj' in which 

 the eggs of other large grasshoppers are laid, 

 no doubt further observations will prove its 

 existence. The eggs of this lot are all sound, 

 and in an apparentl}' safe condition till the time 

 of hatching, as thej' were several inches below 

 the surface of the ground. In the next collec- 

 tion the mass is of a circular form, with the 

 eggs arranged pretty- much as we found them in 

 the first lot. Here, however, thej' are quite 

 distinct, being simply dusted over with a little 

 earth ; and I find several of them have been 

 opened at the sides, and their contents re- 

 moved, apparently b}' ants or other insects. 

 The two remaining masses are essentially of 

 the same description as those we have just de- 

 scribed. One is a little different in shape, being 

 oblong instead of circular. This form may have 

 been forced upon it from the narrowness of the 

 fissure in which the eggs of this lot were laid. 

 Of these four deposits, we may saj' that they 

 contain an average of thirty eggs apiece ; and 

 this statement, no doubt, will be veij near the 

 correct one for the usual uumber found in such 

 masses. 



Examining one of these eggs under a two- 

 inch objective, we find it composed of an outer 



coat, brown in color, fibrous in texture, and 

 about 0.1 of a millimetre in thickness. The 

 little fibres are placed side by side, and vertical 

 to the surface of the egg. This coat fractures 

 off in small pieces quite easil}', and, in so doing, 

 exposes the thin membranous and transpaient 

 inner coat, which allows one to sec through it 

 the amber-colored contents of the egg proper, 

 which are of a viscid character and of about the 

 consistency of old olive-oil. 



This was the only occasion upon which I 

 ever succeeded in finding any of the eggs of 

 this grasshopper ; and I am unable at the pres- 

 ent writing to say how many times they de- 

 posit during a season, or how often Romalea 

 moults during the same period. 



It was my intention, when I commenced this 

 paper, to enter to some extent upon the anat- 

 omj- of this insect ; but the idea was eventually 

 abandoned from the fact that the anatomy of 

 locusts and grasshoppers has been very abl}' 

 and extensively worked up by many entomolo- 

 gists : so, to enter upon this subject at all in the 

 present case would entail a minute study of 

 details and comparisons that would i-esult in 

 carrying' my paper much beyond its intended 

 limits. Then, too, so far as the external ap- 

 pearance of Romalea is concerned, I have made 

 everjr efifort to convej' a correct idea in mj' 

 plate, both of the male and the female ; and 

 this work has been most carefully and beauti- 

 fuU}- reproduced bj' my engravers, Messrs. T. 

 Sinclair and Son of Philadelphia, — a firm to 

 whom our scientific men are under so manj- 

 obligations for faithful reproductions of their 

 work. This sketch, in its present form, then, 

 is ofl'ered to the readers of Science as a con- 

 tribution to the life-historj- of Romalea niicrop- 

 tera ; and it is hoped that in it at least a few 

 facts will be discovered that will prove of 

 interest to entomologists. 



R. W. Shofeldt, 

 Captain Medical corps, U.S.A. 



RESOLUTIONS OF THE INTERNA TIONA L 

 GEODETIC COMMISSION IN RELA TION 

 TO THE UNIFICATION OF LONGI- 

 TUDES AND OF TIME. 



The seventh general conference of the In- 

 ternational geodetic association held at Rome, 

 and at which representatives of Great Britain, 

 together with the directors of the principal 

 astronomical and nautical almanacs and a 

 deleg.ate from the Coast and geodetic survey 

 of the United States, have taken part, after 

 having deliberated upon the unification of 

 longitude by the adoption of a single initial 



