98 THE CANADIAN oi-NTOMOLOGIST 



fittle concern for the dimmed light of a lantern, I was able to watch her mov- 

 ments without in any way interfering with her work. Thus, she was seen to 

 run actively about the cage, climb up and around the various twigs, and when a 

 promising crack appeared test its possibilities with her ovipositor. Eventually 

 reaching a dead twig containing loose bark she became greatly excited, and before 

 long had thrust her ovipositor behind the bark between a crack and deposited 

 an egg upon the wood beneath. Then moving to another spot she repeated the 

 performance. Many of her efforts to reach a favourable situation were, how- 

 ever, without avail, and while she seemed to object strongly to placing more 

 than one egg in the same place, the scarcity of appropriate cracks elsewhere 

 invariably induced her to return to the original twig. It thus happened that 

 while she searched over every object in the cage with great care her entire clutch 

 of eggs was ultimately placed in the one twig. In all about 40 eggs were de- 

 posited. These, as was to be expected, were somewhat bunched though no egg 

 actually rested upon another, and all were well hidden by the overhanging 

 bark. 



The foregoing observations provide strong evidence to show that the eggs 

 of Poecilopsis rachela are not laid in masses as was previously supposed, but 

 instead are deposited singly or at most in small numbers. They are placed 

 beneath the dead loose bark, probably on those twigs so commonly found at- 

 tached to the lower stems of aspen poplars or upon willows which provide many 

 similar conditions. 



This will, of course, explain why the larva are generally found singly and 

 have a diversity of food plants. It also accounts for the remarkable agility of 

 the female moth and the activity of the young caterpillars. 



Eggs from the above-mentioned moth hatched on May 10-11, and moths 

 from the resulting pupa? on April 20 of the following year. A majority of the 

 adults were, as usual, females. 



Leucobrephos brephoides Wlk. 



The remarkable earliness at which this moth makes its appearance in spring- 

 time has often occasioned speculation as to whether or not it was able to force 

 its way through the snow. The adults have frequently been observed flying 

 and were captured too, while the woodlands still rested under a thick covering 

 of snow and only the extreme uplands were free from its mantle. This seemed 

 strong circum.stantial evidence in favour of the supposition that the moths did 

 make their way, though the small amount of visible land always left a doubt 

 as to whether this was actually so or not. In 1916, however, evidence of a direct 

 nature became available, which left no doubt as to the moth's habits in this 

 respect. 



The spring of 1916 was an unusually late one in Manitoba, while the winter 

 preceding it had provided an abnormal amount of snow. Thus up to April 10 

 no land was visible anywhere, and the woodlands among which L. brephoides 

 is known to breed presented a solid covering of approximately two feet in depth. 

 Odd thaws had occurred, however, and once the temperature rose to 44° F. in 

 the shade, so that the snow was actually in a thawing condition. The first 

 moths were seen flying on April 1, and during the succeeding days were observed 

 frequently up to the 10th, some of which we captured. As a rule these moths 

 were noted resting u\)on bunches of straw, hay or some other material dropped 



