A refined sampling technique showed that eggs ofCerotoma trifurcata(Forster) did not occur more than 3.8 cm below the soil surface. Of the eggs found within a 5.1-cm radius of plants more or less isolated in the row, almost 77% were within 2.5 cm of a plant. Thus, a cylindrical sample 5.1 cm in diam, 3.8 cm deep, and centered on a plant or a clump of plants is sufficient for determining relative numbers of eggs. Such small samples greatly accelerate the procedure for extracting eggs from the soil samples. Series of contiguous cubical samples, running perpendicularly across a row and halfway to the adjacent row in either direction, showed that over 73% of the eggs were within 2.5 cm of a row of plants and over 92% within 7.6 cm. Our findings provide the basis for developing a sampling technique for determining absolute numbers of eggs per area of crop field. Minor modifications of the extraction procedure are also described.