82 



perfected pale ring without notches. Length 1-Omra., width 

 •5mm., and thickness (maximum) -Smm. 



Ennomos qnercinaria has a most characteristic type of ovum, 

 resembling, so far as I know, that of E. aiitumnaria only amongst 

 all our British Lepidoptera. I have never seen it in the wild 

 myself ; but I had a piece of bark sent me which had been cut off a 

 poplar-tree, and was studded all over with the eggs to the number 

 of over 100 to the square inch. In colour, dark-green and some- 

 what shiny, with a pale brown ring around the micropylar area, 

 and very slight pitting on the surface of the shell. The shape 

 is oval, rather flattened above and below, and with the micropylar 

 end cut off square. Length 'Smm., maximum width "Gmm., and 

 thickness •4mm. 



Himera pennaria. — I disturbed a female of this species in the 

 New Forest, early in November, which was ovipositing on honey- 

 suckle. She had laid seven eggs in the angle below a twig. These 

 were standing closely together in a small batch. But I have seen 

 a twig of ash gathered wild on which some 250 eggs had been 

 laid in eleven long straight rows, as closely and evenly together 

 as possible. In shape the egg is approximately cylindrical, with 

 flattened ends, nearly smooth and rather shiny. When fresh 

 laid it is opalescent greenish-yellow, but soon becomes pale olive- 

 green. H. pennaria is one of the few species amongst our British 

 geometrid moths which lay an upright egg. The diameter is 

 •65mm., and the height 1mm. The micropyle is quite distinct 

 under low magnification, and is situated in a tiny pit in the centre 

 of the flat top. 



Crocallis elbKjnaria deposits her curious, large, brick-shaped 

 eggs in a long straight row, side by side, along a twig of sloe, or 

 other of its very numerous food-plants. I have found a batch 

 of 35 on privet, and another on sloe containing 22 egg'^. They 

 are to be found throughout the winter, and as they undergo little 

 change in colour, I presume the shell is thick and opaque. The 

 colour is dirty whitish with blotches of two shades of brownish- 

 grey, the larger and darker marks being more numerous towards 

 one end, and forming an indistinct bar or fascia. Type flat. 

 Corners rounded, and surface of shell very slightly pitted. 1-lmm. 

 long, -Tmm. wide, and -Smm. thick. 



Ouraptenj.v sainbucaria lays in small batches under leaves of ivy, 

 etc. I have found a small batch of four under a leaf of clematis. 

 They are like the eggs of no other geometrid moth I have yet met 

 with. Upright, shaped rather like a wide barrel, with thirteen 



