THYREUS ABBOTII 87 



stout or slender, dark brown, smooth, with no raised 

 tougue-case. Out of doors they are formed under- 

 ground. 



Usually ahbotli has passed through four molts before 

 pupation, in our experience, and has had a larval life 

 of at least four weeks instead of but twenty-five days. 



The moth flies just before and just after sunset. Its 

 head and thorax are chocolate-brown, with a blue- 

 gray sheen sometimes; th6 abdomen is blackish next 

 the body, then brown, then dark again at the tip, which 

 is tufted. The fore wings are notched, dark brown at 

 base, lighter till close to the margin, with dark streaks 

 and lines. The hind wings are bright canary-yellow 

 with brownish borders. 



The male's antennae are ciliate, turned back at the 

 tip, while those of the female are simple. 



It is very easy to watch a moth lay her eggs and 

 collect them as she leaves them, for she lays one on a 

 leaf, not always on the upper side, then flies about 

 until the next egg must be laid, and deposits it at a 

 distance of several feet from that last laid. This 

 might be interpreted as a " wise maternal instinct " 

 which allowed each of the future young plenty of food- 

 space, but for the fact that the mother soon flutters 

 back and lays an egg not far from the one she has 

 just laid, and continues ovipositing in the same neigh- 

 borhood, and though each egg is laid at a distance of 

 several feet from the last one, several eggs may be 

 gathered in a square yard. This would indicate a 

 short memory or lack of observation of direction and 

 locality — or a want of that " wise maternal instinct " 

 so much lauded bv sentimentalists. However this 



