Twelfth Keport op the State Entomologist 203 



or abrading them, as many of tlie berries were more or less bruised, and 

 but few other insects were seen around them. It is quite probable that 

 they are drawn to the nectar of flowers and the juices of various fruits. 

 They are also attracted by plant-lice, probably for the purpose of imbib- 

 ing the honey-dew excreted by these insects. Mr. Van Duzee records 

 an instance {Joe. cit.) of the moths swarming around an apple-tree badly 

 infested with Aphis mali. Dr. Smith, in his Report for 1896, p. 450, 

 mentions their occurrence in large numbers among the plant-lice on 

 melon-vines. The moths seem to require an unusual amount of food, 

 the reason of which may be that the eggs are not developed in recently 

 issued females : no traces of them were found in a number of females 

 dissected during this year. 



Oviposition is said not to begin until a week or more after the moth 

 has emerged, and it is believed to continue for the remainder of the adult 

 existence, which may amount to several weeks. No eggs were obtained 

 the past season from females which were either reared from caterpillars 

 or from pupae collected in the field, although moths taken at the Tar- 

 tarian honeysuckle berries oviposited within a few days. The eggs are 

 ordinarily deposited by preference in thick tufts of grass, especially such 

 as have been stimulated in growth by the droppings of cattle in pastures, 

 and in other similar localities. The oldest and toughest stalks are selected, 

 and on these the eggs are thrust down between the sheath and the stalk 

 and usually secured in place by a gummy secretion. Early in the season 

 the moth is known to deposit apparently by preference in cut straw of 

 old stacks, in hay ricks, and even in old fodder stacks of corn stalks. 

 Its eggs may also be found in bits of corn stalks on the surface of the 

 ground, and in the preceding year's stalks of grasses; or, the moth may 

 oviposit in the spring in young grain, and at times, on the leaves of plants 

 upon which the larvae rarely feed, as on. clover. The eggs are most 

 frequently deposited late in the afternoon and during the earlier hours of 

 the night, in strings of fifteen to twenty ordinarily, although batches of 

 nearly a hundred, in from three to eight rows on a single stalk have been 

 found. In breeding cages the eggs have been placed in masses of over 

 a hundred, arranged in several rows between two sticks. The first moth 

 dissected by Dr. Riley was found to contain upwards of 200 eggs, but 

 later dissections resulted in finding 562 and 737 eggs respectively, which 

 is probably nearer the average number. 



Habits of the lafz^ce. — The eggs hatch in from eight to ten days. The 

 young larvae remain in hiding most of the time, feeding only during cloudy 

 weather and at night. They shelter themselves in the folds of leaves, in 



