

THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 33 



wings stiffly together over his back, and curling his anal end round under 

 his thorax like a caterpillar, remains rigid and immovable ; but if he be 

 old and worn, he is likely to struggle continuously for .iberty. The female 

 has similar habits. 



Copulation takes place as soon as the female emerges, often, and per- 

 haps usually, before her wings are developed sufficiently to enable her to 

 fly. The emergence is from the ground, and as she climbs up some grass 

 stem or weed, shaking out and developing her wings, her presence 

 becomes known to the males, who cluster around, on the wing and on 

 foot, fluttering up blunderingly and with clumsy efforts to touch her with 

 their antennae. And here occurs a most singular thing, that in many 

 instances, as soon as the male actually touches the female with his 

 antennas, he becomes alarmed and instantly flies off in precipitate flight, 

 dismayed and demoralized, and does not return. But there are plenty of 

 others left, and they crowd around, and it is not long before the right one 

 arrives and speedily becomes attached, when in a little while all the othei 

 males fly away and leave the pair in peace. 



The next business for the female is to lay her eggs. She flutters about 

 the willow twigs a few feet above the ground, and selecting a suitable twig 

 a line or two in diameter, catches hold with her claws, and hanging sus- 

 pended, bends her ovipositor up to the twig and deftly places the eggs in 

 a solid ring all round the twig. She commonly begins to oviposit in the 

 afternoon, and continues hanging in the same place all night, placing eggs 

 occasionally as they mature. When thus engaged in ovipositing, if she be 

 annoyed or roughly interfered with, she flaps her wings violently back like 

 those of a butterfly, and remains sullenly immovable. The males, be- 

 coming weary with their heavy flight, frequently stop to rest by hanging 

 on a twig or leaf, looking very much like a female ovipositing. He, 

 also, if picked off in the fingers, suddenly flaps his wings back forcibly, 

 making no effort to escape, except that probably he will exude upon the 

 captor a drop or a fine stream of vile fluid, which seems to be his chief 

 weapon of offence and defence. When at rest, or ovipositing, the wings 

 lie down over the body the same as do the wings of most moths, but when 

 caught they throw the wings back and curl the abdomen around under 

 the thorax, without further effort in self-defence. 



The eggs hatch in the spring as soon as the leaves have grown suffi- 

 ciently to afford them food ; they are gregarious when young, but become 



