20 DEPARTMENT BULLETIN 1779, 
grain fields to underestimate the numbers of this species present, and 
very often the resulting damage is attributed to other causes. 
HIBERNATION. 
Although large numbers of nymphs enter hibernation quarters with 
the adults, they soon perish and in no instance have they been ob- 
served to survive the winter. 
HABITS OF ADULTS. 
COPULATION. 
The adults of Chlorochroa sayi are found in copulation on the food 
plants, under rubbish, or around the bases of plants at all times of the 
day and night. The mating pairs face in opposite directions and the 
length of copulation varies from a few minutes to several hours. 
In one life-history cage a pair was observed in copulation for two 
entire days and it is probable that they had continued in this position 
throughout the intervening night. On several occasions, when ob- 
served in copulation on their food plant, either one or both of the 
sexes continued to feed during the act. 
OVIPOSITION. 
Oviposition occurs at any time of the day or night whenever the 
female happens to be resting or feeding. When ovipositing the legs 
are strongly braced and the abdomen is inclined at an angle, nearly 
touching the object on which the eggs are deposited. As each egg is 
forced through the ovipositor, the tip of the abdomen bends and de- 
posits the egg in its appointed position. Normally the eggs in the 
lower end of a cluster are deposited first and with these as a founda- 
tion the succeeding eggs are added in transverse rows. (See fig. 3.) 
The intervals between the deposition of individual eggs in a cluster 
average about one minute, so that the total time required for oviposi- 
tion depends upon the size of the egg cluster. 
LOCATION OF THE EGG CLUSTERS. 
The egg clusters of Chlorochroa sayi are found in a great variety 
of locations, but generally are placed on the lower side of some por- 
tion of the food plant or underneath some object in the vicinity. 
The adults emerging from hibernation deposit their eggs on the rub- 
bish or dead plants comprising the hibernating quarters, but the 
adults of the succeeding generations generally select the living food 
plant, or its close vicinity, for egg deposition. On different occasions 
egg clusters have been found on various parts of the food plant, in- 
ckuding the awn or “beard,” the edges of the leaves, the head of 
beardless varieties, the upper and lower sides of the leaves, and the 
stem. Other locations selected for egg deposition were the lower side 
of “ cow chips,” clods of earth, stones, and tin cans, and the wire and 
posts of fences. On one occasion an egg cluster was found super- 
4 
