LÉPIDOPTÉROLOGIE COMPARÉE 349 



The ovum (See PI. G and H). 



The egg is somewhat Hat and more or less oval in outline, 

 although the outline varies greatly on account of the soft nature 

 of the shell, the neat manner in which the ova fit into the crevices 

 into which they hâve been pushed, and the fact that they are laid 

 in cakes. Roughly, except in the case of sonarza, the eggs are ail 

 of the same size. The surface is bright and shining and is very 

 variable in colour; it is of a bright apple green in the earlier eggs 

 laid, and of a yellow green or even cream when the female is 

 almost spent. Strange to say, the eggs, when laid, are in ail 

 species, sometimes of a yellow which in many cases varies to 

 a bright orange red. The surface of the ova is covered with f aint 

 reticulations. 



The egg of zonar'ia is quite différent from those of the others. 

 It is much larger even than that of hïrtarïa which, in spite of the 

 size of the imago, possesses an egg the same size as that of lappo- 

 naria. The surface, too, is a dead green colour of a very différent 

 tone from the bright green of the others. 



Before the ova hatch, they become a dirty grey colour which 

 gradually passes into a bright metallic black just before the larva 

 émerges. 



The larva. 



The ground colour of both head and body, in the young larva, 

 is black. On the first five abdominal segments, is a transverse 

 white bar, which seems almost continuous to the naked eye. Under 

 a lens, it is found to be interrupted dorsal ly and just before the 

 spiracular area is reached. Almost in line with this bar on the 

 spiracular line, is a large white spot, produced rather strongly 

 anteriorly and more faintly behind. Between this spot and the end 

 of a bar, is another white spot, and there may be a similar one 

 ventrally. In ail the species, except pomonaria, the large spots are 

 found in the thoracic segments. The larva has a white collar; faint 



