1S8-3.J , 209 



paper-lined box, managed to secure all her eggs to the number of 230 or thereabouts ; 

 I had removed and given away most of them before she had quite finished laying, 

 but luckily i-etained 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 carr.e each day (I think she was about five 

 days in getting rid of all her burden), 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 larvse 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 has 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, her eggs being like 

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



I believe Mr. Harwood and myself both inclined to the latter view. A third 

 question with regard to eggs is this, Do eggs of the same species vary in colour? or 

 do they always go through the same changes of colour in approaching maturity ? 

 Mr. Buckler and myself have noted a most decided variation in the eggs of O. 

 antiqua; often they are of a dirty whitish hue with central brown spot, but some- 

 times we have met with batches which were quite reddish-brown all over ; I believe, 

 too, the eggs of D. vintila vary considerably in the depth of their brown colouring. 

 I have notes of a few eggs of H. Sylvinus, which I once secured ; wlien laid they 

 were all of a dull white, and most of them remained so, with the exception of a 

 tinge of yellow, which came over one side ; but one egg became deep yellow all over, 

 and the larva from it when hatched was of a much deeper yellow than the rest, but 

 I did not manage to rear it so as to see whether this difference remained throughout 

 its growth. I have also notes of various batches of eggs of C. brumata, which did 

 not all seem to go through the same changes of colour, some of them not showing 

 the dark hue which others put on at the last. 



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

 ascertained easily ; I once counted 1200 as the number laid by T. 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 score. 



To any one who possesses a microscope the examination of newly-hatched larvse 

 furnishes a very curious study ; Mr. Scudder, some years ago, pointed out in the 

 pages of this Magazine (vol. viii, p. 122) the value of observations on this stage in 

 the life of an insect, but wifliout going very deeply into the signification of the 

 structure of what he called the " embryonic larva," one cannot but be greatly 

 interested with the details which a magnifying power of 25 or 50 diameters will 

 reveal. Thus, I found that the young larva of Hm. populi has its skin thickly set 

 with fine bi-forked hairs, like double fish-hooks, the anal horn being similarly 

 ornamented, whilst the head has only a few simple hairs ; the young larva of A. alni 

 has a most curious arrangement of dorsal tubercles on segments 5 — 8, but this will 

 probably be noticed more at large in a future paper. 



Dr. Chapman has fidly coufiriiied my observations on the varying number ol 



