Watt. — Ova of some of the Lepidoptera of New Zealand. b9 



Ovum. Plate I, fig. 6. 



Class.— Flat (?). 



Shape. — Oval. Exceedingly scale-like. Top surface slightly convex. 



Dimensions. — Width, 0-68 mm. ; length, 0-82 mm. ; perpendicular height 

 of egg-mass, 0-16 mm. 



Sculpture. — -Reticulations delicate and extremely fine, but easily dis- 

 tinguishable, forming an irregular network of lozenge-shaped figures (cells), 

 lengthened in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the egg. Cells 

 composed of four, five, and six sides, very irregular in shape, and about 

 0-04 mm. long by 0-02 mm. wide. 



Micro "pyle. — Not distinguished . 



Shell. — Frail; cannot be touched without damage ; transparent; shiny 

 varnished appearance ; roughened within cells. 



Colour. — W r hen fresh laid, white with very pale cream tinge. The second 

 day the embryo can be seen within the egg in the shape of a broad U with 

 the arms curved spirally inwards. On the sixth day two small brown areas, 

 about 0-14 mm. apart, appear at the upper end of the egg. During the 

 next day or two these become black, while two other small light-brown 

 areas appear between and slightly above the former two. The middle 

 portion of the egg assumes a darkened yellowish tinge, and the embryo 

 larva, although very transparent, can be seen within the egg. The first 

 pair of brown areas that appeared were the eyes, the other pair the man- 

 dibles of the larva. Infertile eggs turn slightly yellow, and collapse. 



Note. — -The eggs are laid singly and in small batches. Thirty-five eggs 

 were obtained from one moth. When laid in batches the eggs are placed 

 in neat regular rows, each egg being about two-thirds overlapped by its 

 neighbours. The egg-contents do not reach the outer wall of the ovum, 

 but leave a thin, flat, transparent, slightly serrated margin. Firmly 

 cemented to food plant and to each other, and it is quite impossible to 

 separate them. The eggs obtained were laid on the underside of the lid 

 of the box in which the parent was confined. Portions of this box were 

 stained red, some parts blue, and the rest left unstained. The coloured 

 areas were in every case carefully avoided, the eggs being laid on the light- 

 coloured wood. Just before hatching the reticulations on the egg become 

 white and very plain. The larva eats its way out at the upper and un- 

 covered portion of the egg, but does not eat the empty shell. Laid, 24th 

 November ; hatched, 7th December = thirteen days. 



(Described, 24th November, 1912.) 



Scoparia chimeria Meyr. 



Scoparia chimeria Meyr., Trans. N.Z. Inst., 17. p. 84 ; Fereday, List 

 N.Z. Lep., Trans. N.Z. Inst., 30, p. 350. 



Fairly common during the early summer, and may be beaten in numbers 

 out of the hedges. 



Ovum. 



Class. — Upright. 



Shape. — Somewhat ninepin-shaped. As seen from above, circular ; 

 side view long and oval, base well rounded ; micropylar end rounded and 

 broader than its nadir. 



Dimensions. — Height, about 0-30 mm. : diameter, about 0-47 mm. 



