184 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 7 



and is seldom present on the older moths. The males, which are 

 slightly smaller than the females, are readily distinguished by a scallop 

 on the outer margin of the fore wing and the absence of palpi. 



The moths emerge entirely at night and usually during the early 

 hours. In our cage experiments the moths started to emerge as early 

 as 7 p. m. and none were observed to emerge after 9 p. m. During the 

 day the moths seclude themselves from hght and enemies and remain 

 very quiet; in fact they are extremely hard to disturb and when forced 

 to fly they act as though blinded by the hght. An apparent exception 

 to this is found in the females, for during the last two days of the ovi- 

 position period they are very active in depositing eggs. The males 

 usually emerge a few days in advance of the females and live for a 

 much longer time. In the case of the second generation it was found 

 that the males Hved an average of twenty-six days, which was twelve- 

 days longer than the average adult life of the females. The proportion 

 of males and females is constantly changing throughout the generation 

 but as a whole the number of males and females is aboiit equal. The 

 first and the last individuals to emerge in a generation are considerably 

 smaller in size than the average, regardless of the sex. The last larvae 

 of a brood are always small as the food supply is never sufficient for 

 all those which are present. A great many of these larvae, though 

 apparently not mature and forced into pupation, will transform intO' 

 functional adults. 



Mating has been observed but once and this was at 10 p. m^ 

 From this and the nocturnal habits of the insect in general, it may be 

 assumed that mating occurs only at night. The mating probably 

 takes place quite soon after emergence but there is no positive proof 

 on this point. Females which were only one and one-half hours old 

 were killed and examined to determine the condition of the eggs. It 

 was found that at this time fully two thirds of the eggs were of full 

 size and were well down in the oviducts though not packed so closely 

 as was found to be the case in older moths. If mating does occur soon 

 after emergence, some little time elapses before the beginning of egg 

 deposition. For the second brood there is a period of six days between 

 the emergence of the female and the first oviposition. This period, 

 no doubt, varies with the different generations. 



In the cages where empty comb was supplied, the eggs were always 

 laid in cavities and if possible in such cavaties as were well protected. 

 Only one egg is deposited at a time, though in working over a small 

 piece of comb the eggs may be placed close together, apparently in 

 masses. The eggs are always securely glued to their restmg place;, 

 usually the shell will break before the egg is loosened. The number 

 of eggs which are deposited by one female has not been ascertained 



