76 THE entomologist's RECORD. 



jrilOTES ON LIFE-HISTORIES, LARViE, &c. 



Eggs of Lepidoptera. — Acidalia iininorata. — These eggs present 

 very few that are not more or less shrunk and shrivelled. The 

 following notes, however, can be made. They are •68ram. long, 

 •38ram. wide at broader, about -SSmm. at smaller, end, with depth 

 of about •28mm. at thinner end, and 'Slmm. at thicker, being thus 

 of usual Geometrid shape. They are longitudinally ribbed, the 

 ribs being waved by the alternating secondary ribs. The ribs are 

 rather blunt, but the troughs are fairly deep, the secondary ribs are 

 not well marked, but quite evident. The ribs are 22-24 in number, 

 uniting to smaller numbers at thin end, at the thick end they cross 

 one another almost at right angles, in a pattern like engine-turning, 

 resulting in a series of round tubercles or knobs at the points of inter- 

 section. This is really a modification of the resolution of a network 

 into ribs, but produces this curious pattern, not unlike the knobs on a 

 Lycffinid egg, but relatively much larger, and on a square, not a 

 hexagonal, pattern, but even so, becoming more hexagonal centrally. 

 The colour appears to be green, changing to grey-brown, but in some 

 with pink spots. The smaller end has a similar knobbed reticulation, 

 but less regtilar, to that on the large end, the micropyle not made out. 

 It is, perhaps, necessary to say that the " knobs " are rounded eleva- 

 tions as of higher points where waves cross, and not the definite added 

 structures they appear to be in Lycsenids. [Eggs laid August 

 23rd, 1900, by a 5 taken at Aix-les-Bains, and described September 

 4th. 1900.] 



Acidalia perochraria. — This is a most beautiful object, the netting 

 being large, very correctly hexagonal, and markedly black, the deep 

 hemispherical cups which occupy the spaces between the netting are 

 uncoloured, and have a deep olive-green colour, due to egg-contents, 

 under the shading of the network. The network is of rather 

 fine lines and looks suspended over the opaline interior, reminding one 

 in some degree of the network cocoons of some moths (Plutellids, &c.). 

 The deep, regularly hemispherical cups are certainly unusually deep, 

 and, looking at the side of the egg, one looks beneath the black marginal 

 line, though the transparent walls of two adjacent cups, adding greatly 

 to the impression of the netting being suspended at some distance from 

 the egg. The network is very regularly hexagonal, a pentagon here 

 and there thrown in, to meet the exigencies of a rounded surface. The 

 egg is of typical Geometrid shape, i.e., it has three unequal diameters, 

 and is, further, somewhat tapered to one end. The long diameter is 

 •47mm. ; the transverse about -SGmm. at the widest part ; •29mm. at a 

 corresponding point towards the narrow end ; the height is about 

 •80rnm. at the thick end and •21njm. at the thinner. The netting has 

 some fine meshes at the smaller end, which probably I'epresent the 

 position of the micropyle. I have not succeeded in getting a good view 

 of these, and cannot make out any definite rosette. The diameter of 

 a hexagon of the network is about •04mm. [Eggs laid August 22nd, 

 1900. bv ? taken at Aix-les-Bains, described September 4th, 1900.] — 

 T. A. C'hapman, M.D.. F.E.S., Betula, Reigate. 



Melanippehaxtata. — Pale yellow in colour; upper surface very shiny 

 to the naked eye; oval in outline, one end ('Pniicropylar) I'ather squarer 

 than its nadir ; almost the whole of the upper surface regularly 



