Vol. XLV. LONDON, DECEMBER, 1913 No. 12 



THE PREPARATORY STAGES OF APOCHEIMA 

 RACIIEL.E HULST.'^ 



B\" ARTHUR uliiSON, DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY, OTTAWA. 



A cluster of about 200 eggs of this rare moth was receiv^ed 

 from Mr. Norman Criddle in 1903. Oviposition took place at 

 Aweme, Man., during the nights of April 20, 21 and 22, and the 

 larva? hatched at Ottawa on May 9 and 10. 



To the notes made in 1903, further information has been 

 added from a recent study of inflated larvae. 



Egg. — The eggs were laid in an agglutinated mass and when 

 received (May 1) were yellowish in colour. On May 6-8 they 

 turned pinkish, then black, and before hatching were beautifully 

 iridescent. In shape, the egg is oval; height 0.6 mm.; breadth 

 0.3 mm.; the whole surface roughened. 



The eggs were secured by confining the female moth in a 

 collecting net-bag. Since, however, Mr. Criddle has found eggs 

 under natural conditions, \'iz., on a twig or poplar (see figure 1, 

 plate XIV) these had been deposited in a tightly compressed mass. 

 On another occasion, a female which the same observer had in 

 confinement laid the eggs in a cluster on her own body. 



Larval .Stage I. — Length 2.5 mm. Head 0.4 mm. wide, some- 

 what quadrate in shape, slightly depressed at vertex; dull black in 

 colour, mouth-parts reddish brown, ocelli black. Body velvety 

 black, with five transverse bands of white on abdomen; collar and 

 stigmatal stripe white: thoracic feet black; prolegs concolorous 

 with body. 



Stage II. — Length 6 mm. Head 0.7 mm. wide, blackish 

 brown, with conspicuous whitish patches, giving a mottled ap- 

 pearance; the lower half of clypeus and lower portion of epicranium 

 reaching to ocelli, almost wholly whitish in some specimens; in 

 others the front of head is mostly whitish, with a few dark brown 

 spots on clypeus and inner margins of cheeks. The larvc^e are now 

 of a grayish-brown colour, with whitish longitudinal lines and 



*Contributions from the Division of Entomology, Department of Agricul- 

 ure, Ottawa. 



