Association of the physiological egg mortality of Sogatella furcifera with the rice plant reaction of forming a watery lesion at oviposition sites was revealed: egg survival rate dropped to less than 20% in the watery lesion within 2 days after oviposition, while 88.8% of eggs developed to the eye-spot formation stage in the non-watery lesion, on rice plants 8 weeks after planting. S. furcifera eggs laid in large tillers and in the main stem suffered higher physiological mortality than those laid in small tillers on the same plant. The physiological egg mortality increased steadily with progression of the tillering of plants until 10 weeks after planting. Egg density did not affect the mortality. The importance of plant resistance as a factor determining the population growth pattern of S. furcifella is discussed.