THE EYED HAWK-MOTH. 23 



The eggs, which are generally laid singly or in pairs on either 

 side of a leaf, sometimes on a stalk, are yellowish-green in 

 colour. The shell is said to be netted, but under a fairly strong 

 lens this does not show. About four hundred is probably the 

 average number for a female to lay in a state of nature, but they 

 seem not to deposit so many when reared from the egg in con- 

 finement. As the moth, except under stress of circumstances, 

 places her eggs on the foliage of trees and bushes in selected 

 positions, the business of egg laying takes about six nights to 

 perform. Even when she is unable to fly she will crawl from 

 twig to twig and glue an egg here and there on the leaves, but 

 rarely more than two on a leaf. On a small sallow bush in my 

 garden, I once counted eighty-four eggs on the lower leaves and 

 the main stem. Green, inclining to yellowish or greyish, is the 

 colour of the full-grown caterpillar. It is roughened with white 

 points, and has seven whitish oblique stripes on the sides. These 

 stripes are edged in front with darkish green and occasionally 

 tinged with violet. The horn is bluish, merging into green 

 towards the dark tip, and roughened with white points. Head 

 triangular in shape, the top pointed ; face tinged with bluish. 

 Sometimes bright red spots appear on the sides in some 

 examples of the caterpillar. In the quite young stage the 

 head is usually rounded ; the horn, which appears reddish, is 

 about one third the length of the caterpillar. 



Sallow, willow, and apple are the more general food plants, 

 but poplar and privet have been reported. I have sometimes 

 found the larva on Sa/i.v repetis^ and also on crab-apple {Pyrus 

 vialus). It may be found in July and August. In some years, 

 when the moths emerge in May, caterpillars are found as early 

 as June, and this is followed by the occurrence of the caterpillar 

 again, as a second brood, in August and September. When 

 quite mature the caterpillar enters an inch or two into the 

 soil, and there forms a weak sort of cell in which it shortly 

 afterwards turns to a brown, or blackish-brown, smooth and 



