220 
Psyche 
[December 
weeks, and since environmental factors regulate the time of incuba- 
tion as well as the rate of nymphal development, there is a prolonged 
period during mid-summer when various nymphal instars may be 
found together and along with teneral adults. Nymphs were recorded 
from June 16 to August 20th in 1957. 
Another notable detail is the fact that unlike C. cydoniae (Fitch) 
and C. pruni O. & D. (Bailey, 1951), the C. mollicula population 
yielded 349 ?? and 1 7 1 cf cf for the three seasons, giving a ratio 
of slightly more than 2 to 1 in favor of the females. 
Since the eggs of C. mollicula O. & D. have not been described 
the following data are provided. The preserved (ethyl alcohol) eggs 
of this species are approximately .6 mm. long by .2 mm. in diameter 
at the central bulge. They taper towards the rounded basal ends 
that are barely inserted into shallow, narrow, elliptical incisions which 
the females make in the tissues of the lower leaf surface. The oper- 
culum on the free, apical end resembles the cupule of an acorn in 
shape and even in pattern and color to some extent. The flange of 
the operculum is set down inside the collar-like opening of the egg 
shell. This opening is about .1 mm. in diameter. The operculum is 
circular with a flattened margin that looks somewhat alveolar. The 
center of the disc usually rises more or less sharply to a peak. The 
base of this little cone flares in a rather evenly diverging series of 
fine, radiating ridges. The shells are quite uniformly fuscous-amber 
and somewhat translucent except for the whitish alveolar rim of 
the operculum. The surface of the shell appears delicately reticulated 
when light strikes it from certain angles. These eggs are spaced 
closely, without touching, in circular or rather irregular patches on 
the underside of the willow leaf blade. The egg placement of this 
species bears no relationship to the leaf venation, which is not very 
prominent. The lower leaf surface is also sparsely hirsute. The axis 
of the egg is almost vertical to the leaf epidermis. 
As the tables show, a leaf may bear as many as 420 eggs in four 
discrete patches. Since the willow leaves are relatively small (a 
pressed branchlet at hand is 23 cm. long and has 18 leaves, the largest 
of which has a blade 10 cm. long and 2.8 cm. in maximum width), 
and since the adult lace bugs of this species seldom occur in large 
numbers on a single leaf here, single egg clusters are more frequent. 
Probably the females normally lay one hundred or more eggs at a 
time. Disturbance during oviposition may account for small clusters 
and the occasional egg laid singly. Eggs were noted as early as May 
24th in 1957 and as late as August 3rd in 1958. 
The willows locally have regularly been quite heavily infested 
