44 
The Bulletin 
Table VIII. 
SUMMARY OF EGG LAYING RECORDS, BY MONTHS FROM TABLE VII. 
Pair Number 
June 
July 
August 
T otals 
1 
22 
79 
61 
162 
2 
34 
62 
24 
120 
3 
14 
78 
45 
137 
4 
31 
122 
58 
211 
5 
3 
6 
14 
23 
6 
5 
64 
33 
102 
7 
59 
121 
49 
229 
8 
22 
46 
11 
79 
9 
17 
78 
69 
164 
10 
0 
101 
72 
173 
11 
18 
89 
46 
153 
12 
45 
93 
50 
188 
13 
42 
76 
51 
169 
14 
35 
57 
40 
132 
15 
31 
33 
0 
64 
16 
1 
3 
19 
23 
17 
13 
31 
27 
71 
18 
13 
15 
15 
43 
19 
21 
28 
12 
61 
20 
60 
70 
44 
174 
21 
7 
51 
48 
106 
22 
50 
89 
40 
179 
23 
45 
70 
36 
151 
Totals_ 
588 
1,462 
864 
2,914 
WHEN THE EGGS ARE LAID 
There are two main periods of oviposition during the day, just as 
there are two main periods of other activities. These two periods 
center around 8 o’clock in the morning and 6 o’clock in the evening. 
In a large field where the bill bugs are very prevalent adult females 
can be found laying eggs almost any hour of the day or night. But 
adults laying eggs are much more abundant at the periods mentioned 
and are comparatively rare or sometimes seemingly wanting from about 
12 o’clock noon until 3 in the afternoon and again from about 12 o’clock 
midnight to 5 in the morning. A fuller discussion of the daily activi¬ 
ties of bill bugs is to be found under the heading “Diurnal Activities” 
below. 
HATCHING 
As the young larvae develop within the egg their form gradually 
becomes more and more evident until it is fully outlined. Then the 
egg-shell seems to split just as if the developing larva was too large 
for it. The larva may actually eat its way out, but close examination 
of many egg-shells failed to give any evidence that this was the case. 
One example was watched while hatching and the splitting of the 
egg-shell seemed to be due to the active wriggling of the larva. If 
