340 FIRST AN-NUAL REPORT OF THE STATE EKTOMOLOGIST. 



would give only approximate results. Even here we find our knowledge ex- 

 tremely limited. Outside of the Sphingidm and the Bomhycidfe, .scarcely any 

 thing has been done by our Lepidopterists in rearing entire broods of species. 

 In these two families the eggs can be easily obtained, either by the "sembling" 

 method (attraction of the male by a newly-emerged female) or by simply pin- 

 ning out of doors a captured female. Several species of the Phalcenidce. are 

 quite prompt in extruding their eggs upon being pinned, even after having been 

 temporarily subjected to anaesthetic influence. But in the extensive family of 

 NoduidoB — with the winged forms of which we are so familiar, and of which 

 our knowledge, therefore, should be the more complete — it is difficult to obtain 

 the eggs under the restraint of confinement. I have never carried an oviposition 

 of a single Noctuid to the perfect stage, nor can I recall a published record of its 

 having been done. Further, in illustration of the veil that still hides portions 

 of the life-histories of these forms which rarely obtrude themselves upon our 

 sight except under cover of the night, it may be mentioned that during the 

 thirty years in which my studies have engaged me to a greater or less extent in 

 the rearing of Lepidoptera, I do not recall an instance where I have observed 

 the NoctuidcB in coitu, and therefore have no personal knowledge of the time, 

 place, manner or duration of the initiative of Noctuid life. 



It is known that in the Attacince, among the Bombycidce, in confinement, the 

 lives of the moths are very brief. The sexes mate a few hours after emerging 

 from the pupae, and continue in copulation for twenty-four hours or more. 

 Oviposition may be commenced the following day, and completed within four 

 or five days thereafter. Perhaps a week longer will complete the life-period of 

 the female — extending in all to about fifteen days. The male usually dies a few 

 days after copulation — several days before the female. 



In the Sphingidce, the lives as observed, in confinement, are longer than in the 

 Attacince, but I have no records from which to give comparative duration. Our 

 observations upon the Phalcenidoi lead us to beheve that, as a general rule, their 

 lives are shorter than are those of the Noctuidce. 



An approximation to the life-period of the Noctuidce may be obtained from 

 the dates when the several species are observed abroad. The published records 

 of the collections made by " sugaring " will furnish convenient data for this. I 

 regret that at my present writing, away from books of reference, I am unable 

 to refer to the papers of Messrs. Thaxter, Norman, Westcott* and others. 

 From a paper published by myself in Entomolog. Contrib., iv, pp. 43-51, it appears 

 that the period of collection (embracing probably nearly the entire life-period, 

 as the examples when first taken at sugar were apparently just from pupae, and 

 those last taken so worn as to be hardly capable of flight) of quite a number of 

 species was about one month. Among these may be mentioned Habrosyne 

 scripta, Agrotis haja, A, subgoihica, A. hicarnea, A. rep)entis,\ Hadena verlas- 

 coides, Oortyna sera, Q. nictitans, Leiicania pollens, L. jyhragmitidicola, L. lap)i- 

 daria, L. pseudargyria, Orthodes infirma, Orihosia Jielm, Scoliopteryx libatrix 

 and Pseudaglossn luhricalis. 



If, in consideration of the condition of the moths when captured, the probable 

 different time of oviposition and more or less favorable exposure of eggs, we as- 



* Psyche, ii, pp. 34-38, 80; Canad.^ntomol., vii, pp. 3, 21; /«/., viii, p. 12. 

 \ Now regarded as distinct from A. messoria Harris. 



