224 
Psyche 
[December 
bug was observed repeatedly butting another with its head with what 
appeared to be aggressive intent. 
Discussion 
Basking Behavior 
Although there have been few reports of basking by pentatomids 
(however see Thomas, 1954) it nevertheless may be practiced quite 
commonly by them. Chlorochoa sayi , a less abundant stinkbug than 
E. conspersus in the study plot, also basked on blackberry leaves. 
This behavior is widespread among insects in general (particularly 
in deserts and northern latitudes where there are great temperature 
fluctuations). Some species, for example the desert locust (Waloff, 
1963), may also orient the body to achieve maximum exposure to 
the sun. Basking is appropriate for the Northwest where summer 
nights are usually quite chilly and summer days often partly cloudy 
and cool. 
Feeding Behavior 
Although many pentatomids feed on a wide range of plant species, 
E. conspersus is the first stinkbug known to exploit a fern. Very few 
insects attack ferns (Brues, 1920; Soo Hoo and Fraenkel, 1964). 
The only other Heteroptera associated with ferns are some members 
of the mirid subfamily Bryocorinae (Southwood and Leston, 1959 ; 
Woodward, Evans and Easton, 1970). 
The stinkbug attacked the stems of adult bracken ferns avidly 
despite the fact that the plant when full grown is avoided by almost 
all herbivores and is reputed to be toxic to cattle (Muenscher, 1939). 
Moreover, bracken pinnae of at least some populations contain ana- 
logs of ecdysone (Kaplanis et al., 1967) although whether stems con- 
tain the substance is not proven. The bug’s ability to feed on bracken 
is all the more remarkable because, unlike other fern herbivores, E. 
conspersus is not a specialist limited to ferns. 
Reproductive Behavior 
The courtship behavior of very few stinkbugs has been reported in 
any detail (but see Kullenberg, 1947; Teyrovsky, 1949; Southwood 
and Hine, 1950; Leston, 1955; Kaufmann, 1966). Judging from 
these cases courtship among stinkbugs must be highly diverse. For ex- 
ample, the male of Calidea dregii first faces the female and then climbs 
forward onto her head (Kaufmann, 1966) ; the males of Dolycoris 
haccarurn first creep under the abdomen of the female (Teyrovsky, 
1949). However, in every previously studied case the male eventually 
climbs onto the back of the female and faces in the same direction 
