The Bud Moth, 39 



occurred slightly overlapping each other in a cluster. The eggs (Fig. 6) 

 are curious objects. They are disc-like, very much flattened, usually 

 oval in outline, a few are circular, and- measure .8 mm. by. 7 mm. A 

 flat outer rim .2 mm. wide adheres closely to the leaf leaving a central 

 slightly elevated rounded disc in which the larva develops. The egg is 

 so nearly transparent that it can be scarcely distinguished from the 

 leaf unless it be held in the right light when the egg will reflect the 

 prismatic colors like a drop of water. In fact the eggs so closely 

 resemble minute drops of water or a fish scale on the leaf that a lens 

 is necessary to determine the egg characters. 



Although the eggs were closely watched, no visible changes in color 

 or arrangement of the contents took place until about nine days after 

 they Avere laid. Then the developing insect was plainly visible as a 

 greenish larva with a dark brown head and thoracic shield. The larva 

 was curled in the central portion of the egg as shown in the figure. 

 Eggs which were laid July 1 and 4 hatched July 11, the egg state thus 

 lasting from seven to ten days.* 



Habits of the larva during the summer. — The larva emerge from 

 the egg through a hole made by it near the edge of the central disc_ 

 The little greenish colored creature which emerges is scarcely 1 mm. in 

 length ; the thoracic shield is dark brown and its similarly colored 

 head is nearly twice as wide as the body which is sparsely 

 clothed with hairs. It does not stop to eat the shell of its egg, but 



* These observations upon the eggs of the Bud Moth differ much from those 

 of Dr. Fernald recorded in Bulletin 12, Mass. Hatch Agr. Expt. Station, April, 

 1891. Dr. Fernald says: " The female lays her eggs, when in confinement, in 

 clusters of from four to ten or eleven, often overlapping each other. They are 

 oval, flattened, four-fifths of a millimeter long, and half as wide, sordid white 

 with a narrow border of clear and transparent white, while the centre of the 

 eggs is one complete mass of minute granules. In about throe days the center 

 of the egg has grown darker, and the granules larger; and on either side there 

 is a clear, white oval space about one-third the length of the egg. In about 

 two days more the outer edge of the center is the same color as in the last 

 stage, and inside this is a narrow, lighter band, while in the center is seen t^e 

 form of a cylindrical larva larger at one end, and both ends slightly curved 

 toward each other; and in one or two days more the whole form of the larva 

 is visible, the head, thoracic and anal shields being black. The egg stage lasts 

 from eight to eleven days." 



Our eggs were obtained in large numbers from moths reared from the larvae 

 and confined in cages containing branches of apple which had been very care- 

 fully examined for any other eggs before they were placed in the cages. Dr, 

 Lintnerhas also called attention to the fact (Can. Ent., XXIII, 281) that the 

 eggs of the Bud Moth which he obtained were very different from those 

 described by Dr. Fernald. 



