16 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



extremity. I could not perceive that it had any other means of rupturing 

 the egg than by its mandibles, which were working visibly within. In a 

 short time the egg was ruptured and the head of the larva protruded from 

 the orifice. Withdrawing its two front feet from the egg, it seized the leaf 

 on which it was placed, and by raising up its back and working itself from 

 side to side, it soon worked itself out. The time occupied in thus extracting 

 itself from the first appearance of the head, varied from six to ten minutes, 

 for I watched several of them through the process. The egg was so thin 

 and elastic that it yielded readily to the motions of the body, and adhered 

 very closely to it, contracting and shrivelling up as the body was withdrawn. 



After the larva comes out it does not consume the egg or any portion of 

 it, as is the case with most Lepidoptera, but sets to work at once eating the 

 leaf on which its considerate mother placed it. When just hatched the 

 worms are about one-twelfth of an inch long; head large, dull whitish with a 

 round dark spot on each side, and a few minute short hairs; mandibles pale 

 brown. Body above and below whitish, semi-transparent, sometimes with a 

 slight greenish tinge. From this time it rapidly increases in size, becoming 

 green, then changing to green with many black dots, and finally reverting to 

 plain green again, tinged with yellow at the extremities, just before it 

 becomes a chrysalis. 



I have a fact to communicate regarding the winter history of this insect. 

 It has been universally held, that the larvae, when they leave the bushes in 

 the fall, at once construct their cocoons, either at the surface of the ground 

 or just below the surface, and change to a chrysalis either then or sometime 

 before early spring. Possibly as a rule this may be the case, if so I have an 

 interesting exception to record. On the 22nd of May I was trying some ex- 

 periments in crossing gooseberries, fertilizing the flowers of the Houghton's 

 Seedling with some of the large English varieties, and having operated on 

 several branches, tied them up in new paper bags to prevent interference 

 with the work, either from insects or otherwise. The particular bag I am 

 about to refer to, was attached to an upright branch on the summit of the 

 bush, about 18 inches from the ground. While examining it on May 31st, 

 nine days afterwards, to ascertain the result of my work, I found in one of 

 the folds of the bag a cocoon of Nematus wutricosus firmly attached to the 

 surface of the paper. In this instance the larva must have remained un- 

 changed during the winter, then crawled from the ground, attaching itself as 

 related and constructing its cocoon after the 22nd of May. A few days 

 later, I found a similar cocoon attached to the bush, which from its fresh 

 appearance I inferred had been constructed about the same time, although I 

 am unable to advance any positive statement regarding it. During the sum- 

 mer I have found a considerable number of such cocoons fastened to the 



