30 THE entomologist's kecord. 



"scattered from about six inches from tlie gi'ound vip to eight feet on 

 all sides of the tree, singly and in small groups." I asked Mr. Holland 

 if he had ever seen the eggs on a tree trunk, and he replied that he 

 had never met with the ova in a state of nature, but that Caj^tain 

 Eobertson found some on the trunk of a tree in the same way as 

 Mr, Battley. Mr. Holland contini;es in his letter, " May not the eggs 

 in these cases have been laid by cripples ? I find in the woods as well 

 as in the breeding box there is always a small proportion of imperfectly 

 developed moths which would not be able to move much. One thing 

 is certain, wherever fagi lays its eggs, whether on trunks or leaves, the 

 moth is actively on the move when ovipositing, so we should not expect 

 to find the eggs in a batch close together." The same gentleman also 

 writes to me : — " They (the J s) appeared quite unable to deposit eggs 

 without being on the wing. Even the cripjded ones went through the 

 motion of flying as well as they were able." This seems to prove fully 

 that the tAvo instances mentioned above were accidental, and besides it 

 would be curious, as Mr. Battley suggested, if the eggs were normally 

 laid on the tmnks where they are very conspicuous, that the fact should 

 altogether have escaped observation. Duration in ova stage : — Mr, 

 Holland says that the duration of the ova stage is usually about a 

 fortnight if the weather suits, and that they hatch a few at a time as 

 they are laid. Colour when laid and colovr changes of eggs: — The late 

 Mr. William Buckler (Larvce of British Bvtterjties and Moths, ii., 65) 

 gives a very minute and careful account of the colour changes of the 

 ova, describing from two which he received from the Eev. Bernard 

 Smith on the 27th June, 1877, and which were laid by a dark variety 

 of the 2 • " The egg," he says, " was of a good size, circular, flattened 

 a little beneath, and with a slight central depression above, the surface 

 glistening as a jDcarl. Viewed through a strong lens it was seen to be 

 most minutely pitted ; it was cream coloured with a brown central spot 

 in the depression above. On the morning of the 30th they were of a 

 mottled api^earance, reminding me of a full ripe greengage plum, some 

 parts with a pinkish bloom, another part at the side like an internal 

 blotch of a deep purple, a pale flesh coloured ring occupied the place 

 of the previous brown central spot which had faded, and near this ring 

 on one of the eggs now ap2:ieared smaller twin spots of purple. On 

 the 1st July they changed to a deep purple nearly all over, with a small 

 central spot of deep purple encircled by a paler halo of flesh colour. 

 On the morning of July 2nd the eggs appeared clouded iiTegularly, 

 and one larva hatched about 10.30 a.m. whilst I was looking at it." 



Laev^e. — Eafchivg: — Mrs. Bazett {Ent. Becord, ii., 210) after 

 detailing the colour changes of the egg, says, describing the emergence 

 of the larva : — " Presently a minute black spot api)ears, it gets larger 

 and larger, and with a glass you can see the head of the insect eating 

 round the shell until the hole is large enough, when out bursts the 

 head, and two pairs of long prologs like those of an ant, and with 

 this it wriggles aboi;t till one segment after another comes out, and 

 it then looks more like an ant than anything else ; these legs are 

 for ever on the move, and the head rocks from side to side. First 

 it eats its egg-shell, then sleeps, and walks about in search of food. 

 Por two days it appears only to eat the hairs on the leaves or on the 

 brown stipules of the stems ; the third day it attacks the leaves." 

 They appear to require extremel}' little if any food for the first three 

 days of their existence, in fact Mr. Holland kej^t some of his later ones 



