The Growth and Habits of Carausius morosus. 379 



their edges ; these leaves were then put at the disposal of the 

 insect. At the end of twenty-four hours (the next morning) 

 the leaves were fitted into their respective outlines on the 

 sheets, and the portion missing, i. e. consumed, was out- 

 lined and the leaves replaced with the insect. The 

 number of square mm. in the missing portion was then 

 counted, and recorded day by day as the amount of leaf 

 consumed. 



As shown in Table XIV, the food consumption doubles 

 with each successive stadium and not merely in actual 

 quantity, for the quantity consumed increases per mm. 

 length of the insect at the same time, thus : in the 1st 

 stadium the consumption per mm. length of the insect is 

 7 sq. mm., in the 2nd 17 • 5 sq. mm, in the 3rd 36, in the 

 4th 79-6, in the 5th 140, in the 6th 295, and after the 

 6th 597 (see Table XV), and these figures are as near as 

 possible 9, 18, 36, 72, 144, 288, and 576, respectively. 



For the two or three weeks immediately following the 

 last ecdysis the insects eat enormously (as can be seen 

 from Diagram III), afterwards, generally speaking, they 

 gradually eat less and less. As the same diagram indicates, 

 there is considerable correspondence between the food 

 consumed and the eggs produced. 



As with the egg-dropping, so too with the food consump- 

 tion, the size of the insect appears to have nothing to do 

 with the results, and according to Table XV a shorter 

 insect may eat more than a longer one. 



Table XV. — Food Consumption by Full-Grown Insects. 



