TRIPTOGON MODESTA 



GENUS, TRIP'TOGON. 



SPECIES, MODEs'TA (" modest "). 



Our egg-layer of this species was found under an elec- 

 tric light, near a large " balm-of-Gilead " poplar. She 

 was so battered and rubbed, and lacked so much more 

 of her wings than was left, that we were not sure of 

 her identity, though we hoped that she might prove 

 to be modesta. She laid a hundred and thirty-two eggs 

 in three nights, and then died. She began egg-laying 

 before three o'clock in the afternoon each day, leading 

 us to suppose that these moths fly early as well as 

 late. 



The eggs were ovoid, and greenish gray with a pearly 

 luster. They were laid near each other in irregular 

 groups, probably because the moth's wings were so 

 broken that she could not riy to oviposit, but could 

 only crawl around the box. 



The eggs looked greener by night and gray by day, 

 were finely shagreened, and turned heliotrope-color on 

 the second day, then, five days later, greener, showing 

 the larvae curled inside. They hatched on the seventh 

 day, and the young caterpillars showed why the eggs 

 turned green at last, for they were dark green, the 

 dorsum looking undershot with black, except the last 



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