Bhodnius prolixus Stal is a blood-sucking bug of the family Reduviidae, and is a native of South America. A great deal of work has been done on the nymphal and adult stages (Buxton, 1930; Wigglesworth, 1931, 1933, 1934), and it has proved an admirable experimental animal. For this reason it seemed desirable to work out in detail its development within the egg.
A culture of Bhodnius was obtained from Professor P. A. Buxton, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and was bred by the methods described in his paper (Buxton, 1930). The insects were fed at intervals on rabbit’s blood. The adults were kept at a constant temperature, 21° C., and the blotting-paper among which they lived was examined frequently for eggs. For the earlier stages the age of the eggs was known to within 1 hour. For later stages their...
