138 THE entomologist's record. 



out when soft, and an extreme spreading of the basal tip would produce 

 the exact appearance that Buckler describes as being " knobbed, or like 

 a bag tied round the neck." This semi-fluid condition of the egg when 

 first laid, may explain an obsei'vation mentioned to me by a lepidopterist 

 who remarked that eggs of Gonepteryx rhamni varied immensely, and 

 that sometimes one side was flatter than the other. Very slight pressure, 

 or other slight external causes, might bring about such a variation. The 

 eggs of Piens and Enchloi' appear to show a slight basal flattening, which, 

 would probably not occur if they were laid quite free from attachment 

 at the base. Dr. Chapman remarks that in Glaea, the egg may be 

 pushed into a chink and become so altered by pressure, that its typical 

 shape and ribbing are entirely lost. 



There is frequently a certain amount of variation in the eggs of 

 individual species. When I was at Hereford in Easter week 1893, I 

 examined some eggs of Brephos notha under a lens ; among them was 

 one which was very different in appearance from the usual form of that 

 species ; it was oval in shape, and very much smaller than the others. 

 Dr. Chapman remarked at the time that this was not unusual. The 

 altered shape could not have arisen from jjressure, or from any peculi- 

 arity in the environment, as the eggs were laid quite open on a twig. 



b. Size. — With regard to variations in size, the Kev. John Hellins 

 writes as follows: — "Some time ago I corresponded with Mr. W. H. 

 Harwood on the (Question as to the eggs of Macro-Lepidoptera varying 

 in size, and he mentioned instances, chiefly among the " Prominents," 

 where he had observed some difference in the size of eggs laid by the 

 same female ; this difference he had been accustomed to associate with 

 the sex of the future imago, the larger eggs being expected to result in 

 female moths, the smaller in male, but I am not aware that he had 

 tested this theory very exactly : he also furnished me with the experi- 

 ence of another entomologist, who liad noticed that the first-laid eggs 

 of Hawk-moths are larger than those which follow. These observations 

 interested me much, and I meant to jnii'sue them with some care, but 

 so far, I have not done what I wished, and all I can now add is this — 

 Last June, I captured an impregnated female of Smerinthus populi, and, 

 by shutting her up in a large paper-lined box, managed to secure all her 

 eggs to the number of 230 or thereabouts ; I had removed and given 

 away most of tliem before she had <piite finished laying, but luckily 

 retained a few of the earliest, and when I came to compare these with 

 the last half-dozen that left the ovipositor, the difference in size was 

 immediately apparent, and on measuring them with the micrometer, I 

 found the last were just two-thirds of the size of the first. To have 

 made this observation of more value, I ought to have measured the eggs 

 as they came each day (I think she was about five days in getting rid 

 of all her bui-den), but I did not think of this in time ; neither shall I 

 be able to know which sex of the moth these small eggs would have 

 produced, for having to leave home before the larvaj were full-fed, I 

 was obliged to commit them to the care of a youngster, whose conscience 

 was not tender on the point of feeding them, so that on my return I 

 found them all dead. There is another question that lias occurred to 

 me, but which I cannot answer for certain ; does a female moth, which 

 from any cause has not reached the usual size of the species, lay the 

 same number of eggs as a full-sized moth, lier eggs, being like herself, 

 under full size ? or does she lay a smaller number of full-sized eggs ? 



