€\t Canadian d^ntomofogbt. 



VOL. X. LONDON, ONT., FEBRUARY, 1878. No. 2 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE EGGS OF CLISIOCAMPA 

 SYLVATICA AND AMERICANA. 



BY THE EDITOR. 



Some time during the month of October last we were informed by 

 Mr. B. Gott, nurseryman of Arkona, Ont, that he had observed on cutting 

 into clusters of the eggs of Clisiocampa that the larvae were at that time 

 fully formed, a fact he had discovered by the use of a magnifying lens. 

 It was our intention to take an early opportunity of verifying this state- 

 ment by examination of the eggs under higher powers of the microscope, 

 but delayed doing so for want of time. During the latter part of Novem- 

 ber Mr. A Puddicombe, one of the members of our Society here, a 

 careful observer and good microscopist. independently made the same 

 discovery by cutting into clusters of these eggs with a sharp knife. He 

 submitted the results of his observations at a meeting of the London 

 Branch of the Entomological Society, held early in December, where the 

 eggs were opened and examined under the microscope. We found the 

 interior of the eggs perfectly dry, with a pearly lustre, the larvae 

 fully developed and only awaiting warmth before making their escape. 

 When the upper end of the egg was removed, the larvae would frequently 

 push their heads out and move them actively about, occasionally crawling 

 almost or entirely out of the shell. Examinations have thus since been 

 frequently made with eggs both of C. sylvatica and C. americana. In 

 several instances where the egg clusters have been kept in a warm room 

 for a week or two, the larvae, mistaking the warmth for that of spring, have 

 eaten their way out of the shells, and finding no food, have died. These 

 details, we think, are sufficient to establish the interesting fact that the 

 larvae of both these species mature early in the fall and hybernate inside 

 the egg, waiting the warmth of spring before eating their way out. 



