DESCRIPTION OF THE MOTH. 245 



brush, without injuring the horny parts, we notice two 

 rounded, horny brown lobes, or clasps, extending somewhat 

 beyond the ultimate joint, the lobes some distance apart 

 below, but converging until they touch above. A careful 

 removal of the chitinous exterior of the two terminal joints 

 will further reveal these lobes as parts of a somewhat compli- 

 cated arrangement, admirably adapted for seizing the female, 

 and consisting chiefly of the two lobes referred to, of two 

 smaller inferior lobes, and of two intermediate organs starting 

 from a knotty base, — the upper one curved, and ending in 

 a sort of beak ; the lower one more straight, and ending in a 

 small cushion of contracted membrane above. 



If we now take a female, and denude the tip of her abdo- 

 men in the same way, we shall find a quite different and far 

 more simple structure ; namely, a thin, vertical, blade-like 

 valve, more or less produced or elongated on the upper por- 

 tion, of a brown color, but with a broad, slightly thickened, 

 paler border. This valve plays into two retractile subjoints 

 of the body, and may be hidden within the terminal joint 

 proper, so as to show only the upper tip ; or it may be ex- 

 tended until it is fully exposed. It is, in reality, composed 

 of two thin layers, closely appressed except at the upper or 

 dorsal portion near the base, where it swells into a somewhat 

 angular ridge outside, and is hollow within. A more careful 

 examination will show that the upper portion is irregularly 

 and obliquely striate, the striations representing folds of the 

 membrane to facilitate expansion ; and that the hind-border is 

 garnished with fine hairs, which easily rub off, and leave the 

 edge quite sharp, so that the two layers form a blade, which 

 is admirably adapted to pressing in between narrow passages. 

 In life, this ovipositor plays on the two subjoints, which may 

 be greatly extended, and, when so extended, form a some- 

 what cylindrical and telescopic tube, which is rendered very 

 firm by a series of stout muscles. By study of this structure, 

 the writer was enabled to correctly anticij)ate the mode and 

 place of oviposition, which had for so many years evaded 

 observers. 



The moths that issue during late summer and autumn hiber- 

 nate, and, together with those which issue from hibernating 

 chrysalides, oviposit as soon as vegetation starts in the spring. 

 The eggs are thrust in between the sheath and stalk of well- 



