THE OVUM OF LAPIIYGMA EXIGUA. 267 



in using the name for a large Pyralid genus commencing with 

 dentalis, while some later restrictions (such as Stephens's, in 

 1834) and type-citations (as Curtis's, in 1830 ; Duponchel's, 

 in 1831 ; and Guenee's, in 1854) are manifestly beside the 

 mark. 



In a word, that long-suffering genus of Acidaliids, in which 

 veins 6 and 7 of the hind wing are separate, &c., and which has 

 been variously called Arrhostia (Herrich-Schaeffer), Leptomcris 

 (Meyrick), Craspedia (Hampson), and Emmiltis (Warren) — not 

 to mention Dosithea, Dap., "type oriiata" — obtains an inalien- 

 able right to the older name of Scapula, Schrank. 



Nov. 7th. 1906. 



THE OVUM OF LAPIIYGMA EXIGUA. 

 By Alfeed Sigh, F.E.S. 



In October last Mr. South kindly sent me some egg-shells of 

 this species, the eggs having been laid September 8th, 1906, and 

 larvae hatched out on the 14th of the same month. The eggs 

 were hidden beneath a tangle of long greyish-brown hairs, which 

 under an eighth-objective appeared quite smooth. Some of them 

 measured 1*23 mm. in length. Quite similar hairs occur on the 

 terminal segments of the abdomen of the female imago of L. exigua, 

 and one suspects that in laying her eggs she moves the abdomen 

 over them, and the easily detachable hairs remain partly adher- 

 ing to the eggs. Some eggs, however, which Mr. V. Eric Shaw 

 was kind enough to forward me later (together with the female 

 parent) were not covered with hairs at all ; but, as this imago 

 was in a terribly worn condition, she may have already parted 

 with the hairs which otherwise might have covered the^ eggs. 

 My material was too scanty to allow me to hazard an opinion as 

 to whether the ova of L. exigua are or are not normally covered 

 with a tangle of hairs. 



In shape this upright egg is a rather depressed sphere, flat- 

 tened at both poles. The vertical axis measures 0-34 mm., and 

 the horizontal 0*45 mm. ; though the shape is not regular, these 

 measurements would suit an average egg. Sculpture : the sur- 

 face is covered with a network of rather large elongate more or 

 less quadrangular cells, so disposed as to give the effect of 

 vertical primary, and horizontal secondary ribs, especially 

 down the sides of the ovum, where the primary ribs become 

 stronger, and the cells between bear some resemblance to ham- 

 mer marks on copper. The secondary ribs or walls of the cells 

 run between, but not over the primary ribs. On the top of the 

 egg, as the micropylar area is approached, the primary ribs 

 become weaker and the secondary stronger, so that together they 



2 a2 



