THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 185 



as, one by one, they disappear beneath the shadow of the 

 wing of the much larger female, the observer knows that he 

 is in a fair way to secure fertilized eggs. But this is not 

 always a matter of course ; for the gauze sides of a cage are 

 not well adapted to the feet of this insect; the sharply-curved, 

 crescent-shaped claws constantly become eniangled, and as 

 one foot is liberated another gets fixed ; so that a little judi- 

 cious assistance is often necessary to bring about that happy 

 state of things to which I have alluded ; and those who are 

 desirous of ensuring a continuation of the species would do 

 well to place females, in the act of" calling," on upright steuis 

 about the thickness of a quill : the removal will momentarily 

 interrupt the " calling," but, when the impulse is on, it will 

 quickly be renewed ; and then, if the male be not too wild, he 

 will, if placed below the female, pass up, and union will in 

 most cases be effected ; but even if the male cannot be con- 

 trolled, and takes wing (we are supposing ourselves to be in 

 a suitable room, say a plant-house), he vrill soon return and 

 join his mate. The duration of union I have known to vary 

 from six to thirty hours, and in each case the eggs have 

 proved fertile. Much depends, I think, on the time of day 

 at which union takes place. 1 would here mention a circum- 

 stance of interest to the anatomical observer. I had been 

 assisting a pair to mate ; the male, to say the least, was not 

 *' nimble" on his legs, and could not steer well ; however, the 

 union was effected, and both settled down. I then left the 

 plant-house in which the cages were placed, but, having 

 occasion to return after an interval of ten minutes or so, I 

 found they had sepai'ated : I cannot say precisely how many 

 minutes they had remained together, certainly not exceed- 

 ing ten. 



The circumstance brought to my mind that some time pre- 

 viously I had received a letter froui a reverend Entomologist, 

 stating that he understood I had taken eggs from impregnated 

 moths without their having passed the ovipositor, and that 

 these eggs had hatched. The reverend gentleman had been 

 misinformed ; 1 had frequently taken eggs from impregnated 

 females, but they invariably proved unfruitful. 



I determined to see what would be the result of this very 

 brief union. 1 removed the female, and was careful to be 

 present when she commenced depositing. 1 took away the 



