THE LIFE-HISTORY OF A LEPIDOPTEROUS INSECT. 143 



than they do Bombyces, the stigmata and some of the lines — so charac- 

 teristic of the Nocture — being, except in A. cassinea, well defined. Why, 

 therefore, these four species should be retained in the position they at 

 present hold in the list of British Lepidoptera, I cannot, for my own 

 part, see, Herrich-Schiiffer places Demas and Diloba in the Bomhyeoklae, 

 and Asteroscopus in the Orthosidae, between Trachea and Tethea." 



Dr. White's guess, like, I am afraid, so many other guesses, con- 

 cerning Demas coryli did not prove to be correct, Dr, Chajjman states 

 that "the larva of Demas coryli is clearly a Liparid ; Diloba caeruleo- 

 cephala, although more closely allied to the Nootu^, is rather a 

 Notodontid," 



With regard to the eggs of these and certain other species of 

 uncertain position, Dr, Chapman wi-ites : — " The only ground for placing 

 certain species among the Noctu.e would apj^ear to be the sculpturing 

 of the egg, which is unquestionably of the pattern nowhere common 

 except among the Noctu.?<: ; such species are D. caeruleocephala, D. 

 coryli, Panthea caenobita, DipJdhera ludifica, Petasia cassinea, and P. 

 mibecidosa. The Nycteolidae have, however, never been placed among 

 the NocTU.B, yet have a very Noctuid egg, and one that in flatness even 

 exceeds that of Acronycta. D. coryli, P. caenobita, and D. hidijica are 

 certainly very close to, if not in, the Liparidae, in which group we 

 already have a very great variation in the characters of the ova — Orgyia 

 antiqua and Dasychira pudibunda with a hai'd smooth egg, not unlike a 

 Notodont, except the flattening or hollow at the micropyle ; Leucoma 

 salicis with eggs glued together in a spumous material ; Liparis monacha 

 with quite a delicate egg, smooth, but with traces of sculpturing not 

 very remote from the Noctuid character of ludifica " (Ent. Record, etc., 

 vol, iii., p. 274). This note forms a very satisfactory supplement to 

 and criticism of Dr. White's note above. 



4. — On the number of eggs laid. — The number of eggs laid by 

 various species differs very gi^eatly, and even among different individuals 

 of the same species there is great variation. Mr. Hellins writes : — " The 

 average number of eggs laid by each species is a matter not always to 

 be ascertained easily ; I once counted 1,200 as the number laid by 

 Triphaena fimbria, and about the same number in a batch laid by T. 

 pronuba, and these are the highest figures I ever knew ; something over 

 200 is, I fancy, a very general number " (Ent. Mo. Mag., vol. xix., pp. 

 208-209). Mr. Hollis (Ent. Rec, vol. iii., p. 173) records some obser- 

 vations made on Spilosoma lubricipeda, from whicli it appears, that in 

 that species, the number laid is about 400 to 500. Dr. Riding (Ent. 

 Rec , vol. iv., p. 1) obtained 123 from a female Dasycampa rubiginea, 

 and Mr. Bayne {ib., p. 36) about 70 from a female Stauropns fagi. Mr. 

 W. E. Nicholson, writing of Agrotis saucia (//>., p. IIG) says: — " Three 

 females Avhich were taken, the first on the 27tli September, and the two 

 otliers on the 29th September, laid freely in chip boxes in the course of 

 tlie next few days. The batches of ova did not look very large, but I 

 subsequently calculated tliat they must have laid over a thousand ova 

 between them. I have reason to believe, as the specimens were worn, 

 and one only laid comparatively few ova, that this is only a fraction of 

 the number that miglit be laid in a state of nature." In Insect Life, vi., 

 p. 40, the number of an entire batch of ova of Zenzera pyrina, is re})orted 

 as between 1,000 and 1,100. Capt. Brown (Eat. Rec, vol, i., p. 107) 

 obtained about 200 eggs from each of two females of Epunda lichenea. 



