332 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 4 



NOTES ON THE EGG-LAYING HABITS AND EMERGENCE OF 

 ADULT OF SANNINOIDEA EXITIOSA SAY 



By E. N. Cory, College Park, Maryland 



In the course of studies of the life history of S. exitiosa, several 

 interesting features of the egg-laying habits and emergence of an adult 

 were observed. 



The method of procedure in this work was as follows: 



Pupse were collected and bred out in confinement and the moths 

 thus secured were introduced into cages, placed over two-year-old 

 nursery stock. The cages were specially constructed for this work, 

 being large enough to allow the investigator to work within the 

 enclosure. (PI. 11, Fig. 1.) 



The cages were erected in the field on June 22, 1910, but it was not 

 until July 11 that observations were recorded. 



Records : 



Female No. 1. July 11. At 8.30 a. m. one male and one female moth, 

 number one, bred in confinement, were introduced into cage A. At 

 9.45 a. m. two more males, bred in confinement, were introduced. 

 No attempt at copulation was made by these males. At 10.10 a. m, 

 one male was observed flying around the outside of the cage near the 

 female, who was resting on the wire with the tip of her abdomen ele- 

 vated and genitalia protruded. This male was captured and intro- 

 duced into the cage. He flew at once to the female and copulation 

 began at 10.13 a. m., the pair remaining in coitu until 11.05 a. m. 

 They settled on one of the uprights, with heads in opposite directions. 



July 12. All moths caged on July 11 escaped from cage A, owing to 

 a screw pulling loose. This was remedied. 



Female No. 2, July 12. At 11.15 a. m. four males and one female, 

 number two, bred in the insectary, were placed in cage A. By 12.15 

 p. m. four males had visited the cage. Three of these were caught and 

 put into the cage. The female during this time had her abdomen curved 

 upward and the genitalia extended. At 12.23 p. m. copulation took 

 place, but whether with one of the males bred out or one of the visitors, 

 I am unable to say. The female remained stationary as before, the 

 male hovering near until finally able to clasp the female. The two 

 triangular tufts of hairs on the male's abdomen apparently clasped 

 the female along the sides of the abdomen and the anal tuft of the 

 male was above the tip of the abdomen of the female. They 

 remained in coitu until 1. 23 p. m., male head down. 



July 13. From 6.30 to 9 a. m. female number two was sluggish and 

 in the grass; from 9 to 11 a. m. she was on the wire of the ca^e and from 



