Presence of Reddish Pigment in Eggs and Ovarioles of the Desert Locust, and its Probable Phase Significance

Abstract

I NOTICED some time ago that in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal), several eggs had a reddish tinge owing to the presence of pink pigment superficially on the egg-chorion, while others lacked this pigment. Generally, in an egg-pod all the eggs are either pink or non-pink, though exceptionally both kinds may occur in the same pod. Hatchings from some 185 pink eggs (from five different egg-pods) and 406 non-pink eggs (from ten different pods) gave the following kinds of first-stage hoppers: (a) Pink eggs: 54 per cent gregaria (black pattern), 22 per cent intermediate and 24 per cent solitaria (green); (b) non-pink eggs: 25 per cent, 17 per cent and 58 per cent respectively. These proportions suggest that pink eggs produced a majority of phase gregaria hoppers, though it must be mentioned that hatchings from five pods (172 eggs) were contrary to this suggestion.