498 P. W. CLAASSEN 
previous year. They are attached either to the seeds or to the pappus. 
When the egg hatches, the nymph either opens the cap or breaks through ~ 
the egg shell, bursting it near the top. {| 
The nymphs.— The various nymphal stages and the adults were first 
observed on the overwintering cat-tail heads in the summer of 1916. It 
was at first assumed that they were merely accidentally present on the 
cat-tail heads, but closer examination revealed that the bugs were feeding 
on the dry seeds of the heads. 
The nymphs obtain their nourishment by thrusting the stylets of their 
beaks into the dry seeds (Plate XLIV, 53 and 55). During feeding, the 
long labium is often folded back under the body. In just what manner the 
bugs are able to extract nourishment from the dry seeds the author has not 
been able to determine. When crushed on the slide and examined under 
the microscope, the seeds show very little moisture. It is very probable 
that the insects secrete a fluid which dissolves or predigests the dry food 
material before it is taken into the body. The author has succeeded in 
rearing nymphs to the adult stage on these dry heads of cat-tail alone 
with no other food available. When placed on the green leaves of the 
cat-tail, the nymphs insert their beaks and feed. Theyare easily disturbed 
while feeding on the seeds in the laboratory. At the slightest provocation 
they rise up on their hind legs, quickly extract their stylets, and, by 
means of their front legs, stroke the stylets back into the labium. The 
labium is then folded into place and the nymph retreats to some sheltered 
place. 
The adult—— Adults were found mating in May and June. The female 
inserts her ovipositor into the male and copulation lasts from six to nine 
minutes. Mating is repeated a number of times at intervals of from five 
to ten minutes. 
Description of the stages 
The egg (Plate XLIV, 47) 
Length 0.93 mm. to 1 mm., greatest diameter 0.29-0.80 mm. Egg elongate oval in shape, 
tapering considerably at the posterior end, and closed by a cap at the anterior end. This 
cap with a cone-shaped protuberance in the center and surrounded by a circle of hooked ~ 
spines. The upper two-fifths of the egg finely reticulated; the lower three-fifths with longi- 
tudinal wavy and branching ridges. Color lemon yellow at first, turning bright red before 
the nymph emerges. Empty egg shell white. The egg ciosely resembling the seed of cat- 
tail, both possessing caps and very similar markings on the surface. 
