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VOL. IX. LONDON, ONT., MARCH, 1877. No. 3 



METAMORPHIC CHANGES OE PLATYSAMIA CECROPIA. 



BY THOMAS G. GENTRY, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



In the early part of May, 1876, I secured a newly-developed female 

 moth of the above species to a branch of the common red currant (Ribes 

 rtib7'um). It was about seven o'clock in the evening of May 6th, to be 

 more precise in regard to time. On the next morning, I visited the spot, 

 and a lusty male was discovered in coition. This condition of things 

 continued until the close of the day, when her amorous partner, lured by 

 the presence of dusky night and midnight revels, gradually loosened his 

 embrace, and hied him away to other scenes. During the night some 

 fifty eggs had been laid, which continued to be deposited at intervals during 

 the succeeding day, until the number had reached about seventy. These 

 eggs .were not arranged with any view to order, but were agglutinated 

 in masses to the reposing surfaces, or appeared in small isolated 

 patches. 



They were beautifully elliptical in contour, and measured one-eighth 

 of an inch in length, and one-twelfth in width. The thickness was about 

 one half the width. They were yellowish-white in color, and thickly 

 coated with a brown viscid secretion. 



These eggs did not hatch until June 3rd. Another batch was laid by 

 a second female on the night of May 9th, which hatched on the same day 

 as the first. A third lot by another female was deposited on the 22nd of 

 the same month, which hatched on the 6th of June, just three days after the 

 first and second lots. During favorable weather I have known the eggs 

 of cecropia to develop in six days. This being the case, it is evident that 

 the necessary conditions were wanting in the above-cited instances. A 

 temperature ranging from So to 90 degrees of Eahrenheit thermo- 

 meter, and a comparative freedom from undue atmospheric moisture, are 

 essential conditions. 



