SOUTHERN GREEN PLANT-BUG. 15 



mild periods of weather throughout the winter. The overwintered 

 adults mate in the spring and the writer has found eggs in the field 

 at Baton Rouge as early as April 13. They have also been taken as 

 late as November 8. 



In feeding the adults prefer, as do the nymphs, the growing shoots 

 or developing fruit of their host plants. They are active and capable 

 of strong flight. Morrill (7) has recorded their capture at night 

 and mentions the fact that when an electric light was turned on at 

 night in a room where adults were confined they became restless. 

 This was verified by observations at Baton Rouge. 



When handled the adults give off a disagreeable odor. On this 

 account they are sometimes spoken of as " stink-bugs." 



COPULATION. 



As has been noted by Whitmarsh (13) in the case of Nezara Jiilaris, 

 the male and female of viridula usually remain in copulation for a 

 considerable period of time, firmly attached to one another by the 

 tips of their abdomens and with their heads facing in opposite direc- 

 tions. Copulation is also repeated at intervals, as the results of 

 observations on reared individuals given in Table II will show. 



OVIPOSITION. 



The eggs are placed close together in clusters which, when viewed 

 from above, have much the appearance of pieces of capped honey- 

 comb (fig. 8) . Individual eggs are attached to one another, and the 

 cluster to the surface upon which it rests, by an adhesive substance 

 given off by the female at the time of oviposition. In the field the 

 female prefers the underside of a leaf as a location for the egg mass, 

 Egg clusters deposited outside of confinement and examined by the 

 writer have with one exception been made up of from 60 to 116 eggs, 

 A cluster taken on November 3 contained only 36 eggs. Rearing 

 records also indicate that the females sometimes deposit their eggs 

 in smaller clusters, but in such instances this may have been due to 

 their having been disturbed while ovipositing. 



RECORDS OF REARED ADULTS IN CONFINEMENT. 



Several adults, reared from nymphs, were kept under observation 

 in the insectary until their death, especially with the idea of obtaining 

 data on the period of time elapsing between the time the females 

 emerged from the last nymphal skin and the time of egg laying, 

 the number of eggs laid, copulation, and length of life of males and 

 females. These individuals were confined in jelly glasses containing 

 moist sand, a male and a female being placed in each tumbler. Green 

 tomatoes were used as food and the contents of the tumblers examined 

 daily. Table II includes notes made on some of the pairs. 



