Sept. igoo.] Weeks: Ovipositing of Vanessa Antiopa. 181 



OVIPOSITING OF VANESSA ANTIOPA. 



Archibald C. Weeks. 



At Richmond Valley, Staten Island, on April 15th, of this year, I 

 was fortunate enough to discover an Antiopa in the act of ovipositing. 

 As the process is one rarely seen its record may be interesting. The 

 locality was warm, sunny and completely sheltered from the wind. 

 In passing through a thicket of pussy willows (Sa/Lv Candida (?)), I 

 almost ran against the butterfly resting motionless, head downward, 

 close to the extremity of a slender willow stem, the catkins of which 

 were not yet in bloom. The wings were extended at right angles 

 with the body, the under side facing the sun, but the primaries were 

 pushed backward so as to cover the secondaries, and in this position 

 the insect perched at the end of the stalk afforded an almost exact 

 counterpart of a blackened and withered bowl-shaped calyx with an 

 irregular and faded out upper edge. Aside from the short catkins, 

 every stem, branch and twig in the vicinity was entirely denuded, the 

 only objects suggestive of leaf or flower being some dried and with- 

 ered seed pods of the swamp Asclepias which still clung to the extrem- 

 ities of the dead stalks. The butterfly, as if realizing how conspicu- 

 ous its situation was, remained as motionless and fixed as possible, 

 without the flutter of a wing, as if forming an integral part of the 

 stalk, only the closest observation availing to detect the movement of 

 the abdomen and the scarcely perceptible advance down the stem — a 

 fine example of protective mimicry. The first eggs were deposited 

 only an inch from the end of the stalk, close to the stem, and encir- 

 cling it just as far as the insect could reach without altering its posi- 

 tion. When discovered the eggs had been half deposited, but the in- 

 sect contined its work entirely oblivious of my proximity and without 

 the slightest change of attitude. The eggs were not laid in regular 

 rows, but in an arrangement somewhat resembling the alternate 

 squares upon a checkerboard having the corners in contact but the 

 sides free. The egg cluster extended irregularly along the stem some 

 two inches, was of a pale yellow color, and contained as nearly as 

 could be computed about four hundred and fifty eggs, probably the 

 entire contents of the ovary ; the lowest, of course, being deposited 

 last. The egg under a lens suggested a musk melon with the surface 

 divided into eight longitudinal sections by as many cream-colored 



