12 
felled on low laud. We nave also received from Mr. A. W. Hoffmeister, of 
Fort Madison, Iowa, the eggs of a species of Stenobothrus, and the young 
that batched from them, the eggs having been thrust into holes made by 
some carpenter-bee in a fence-post; while ChloealtH conspersa habitually 
bores in dead wood. 
Manner in which the Eggs are laid. — The female, when about to lay her 
eggs, forces a hole in the ground by means of the two pairs of horny 
valves which open and shut at the tip of her abdomen, and which, from 
their peculiar structure, are admirably fitted for the purpose. (Ste PI. 
I, Fig. 2, where b, c, show the structure of one of each of the upper and 
lower valves.) With the valves closed she pushes the tips into the 
ground, and by a series of muscular efforts and the continued opening 
and shutting of the valves she drills a hole, until in a few minutes (the 
time varying with the nature of the soil) nearly the whole abdomen is 
buried. The abdomen stretches to its utmost for this purpose, espe- 
cially at the middle, and the hole is generally a little curved, and always 
more or less oblique (PI. I, Fig. 1, d). Now, with hind legs hoisted 
straight above the back, and the shanks hugging more or less closely 
the thighs, she commences ovipositing. 
When the hole is once drilled there exudes from the tip of the body 
a frothy, mucous matter, which fills up the bottom of the hole and 
bathes the horny valves. This is the sebific fluid which is secreted by 
the sebific or cement gland. By repeatedly extricating and studying 
specimens in every possible stage of oviposition we have been able to 
ascertain the exact method by which the egg-mass is formed. The proc- 
ess has never been accurately described by other writers, and the gen- 
eral impression — upon which figures like those of Gerstacker's * are 
founded — is that the eggs are extruded from between the distended 
hooks or valves. If we could manage to watch a female from the time 
the bottom of her hole is moistened by the sebific fluid, we should see 
the valves all brought together, when an egg would pass down the ovi- 
duct (PI. I, Fig. 3, j) along the ventral side, and, guided by a little 
finger-like style (the gubernaculum ovi, g), " pass in between the horny 
valves (which are admirably constructed, not only for drilling but for 
holding and conducting the egg to its appropriate place), and issue at 
their tips amid the mucous fluid already spoken of. Then follows a 
period of convulsions, during which more mucous material is elabo- 
rated, until the whole end of the body is bathed in it, when another 
egg passes down and is placed in position. These alternate processes 
continue until the full complement of eggs are in place, the number 
ranging from 20 to 35, but averaging about 2S. The mucous matter 
binds all the eggs in a mass, and when the last is laid the mother de- 
votes some time to filling up the somewhat narrower neck of the bur- 
row with a compact and cellulose mass of the same material, which, 
though light and easily penetrated, is more or less impervious to water, 
* Die Wandeiheuschrecke, Berlin, 187G, Taf. II, Fig. 4. 
