186 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



first eight or ten eggs, carefully noting in what order they 

 passed : she laid only a further half-score. Of the first- 

 laid batch five only hatched ; these five were those which 

 ■first passed the ovipositor ; the remainder, and those subse- 

 quently laid, all proved unfruitful. 1 may mention, in con- 

 nexion with this, that I have frequently observed, in a row of 

 eggs, that a couple or so prove barren, turning a dirty white, 

 instead of the rich, deep brown which all vivified eggs of this 

 moth assume. The barren eggs generally lie side by side, 

 having followed each other from the female : it would there- 

 from appear that, for the moment, the fertilizing fluid had 

 ceased, or failed to perform its function, but to have again 

 quickly returned, I make no comment on these facts, but 

 leave anatomical Entomologists to draw their own con- 

 clusions. When I first bred E. versicolor I was puzzled at 

 the blundering attempts of the females to deposit their eggs ; 

 twisting up the abdomen, the ova fell as they passed the ovi- 

 positor, or became attached to the under side of the body, 

 collecting in balls, or, if by chance any become attached to 

 the material on which the moth rested, they accumulated in 

 irregrdar masses \ and as the same twisting of the body and 

 turning under of the ovipositor took place with each female, 

 I became satisfied the promptings of instinct produced the 

 action, and that she required to be in a normal state to per- 

 form her work properly, I therefore placed her on the main 

 stem of a young birch-plant, growing in a flower-pot, the 

 foliage of which was intended as food for the larvae : she at 

 once commenced to ascend, and, passing along one of the 

 thin laterals, the before awkward moth ^ow seemed quite at 

 home : with perfect freedom of movement she clasped the 

 branch, adjusted herself beneath it, and, curling up the ab- 

 domen, passed it up one side of the twig, bringing it forward 

 until it approached the hinder legs ; then, passing the ovipo- 

 sitor over to the upper surface, deposited the first egg, close 

 to the hind legs and across the twig, a little towards the side 

 from which it was delivered ; then, slightly elongating the 

 body, another was laid, alongside the first ; then a third, and 

 so on, until nine or ten had been deposited in the most regu- 

 lar manner, and having the appearance of a row of miniature 

 vegetable marrows laid side by side. The abdomen having 

 now been elongated to its full extent, she withdrew it, and, 

 passing it to the opposite side of the twig, bringing over the 



