150 TWENTY-FOURTH REPORT ON THE STATE MUSEUM. 



XII, TRANSFORMATIONS OF EAGLES IMPERIALIS (DRURY). 



A pair of these beautiful and rare moths was taken in Greenbush, 

 in coitu, and remained in that state while being brought across the 

 river to Albany. In the box with them were some twigs and leaves of 

 chestnut (Castanea vesca), with a number of eggs already deposited on 

 them, from which circumstance, in the absence of any accompanying 

 statement, it is to be presumed that they were captured upon that 

 tree. A large number of eggs were subsequently deposited by the 

 moth, of which, through the kindness of Mr. Louis Sautter, eighty- 

 five were brought to me, which were said to have been laid on the 

 25th of June. 



Eggs. The eggs are flattened ellipsoids, having their diameters 

 respectively 12-1000ths, ll-1000ths, and 8-1000ths of an inch. When 

 examined under a high magnifying power the shell presents the 

 appearance of having its surface studded with numerous short, capitel- 

 late setse, somewhat curved at the base, and arranged in a degree of 

 regularity at a little more than their length from one another ; but 

 as no setse are seen in relief when looking across the surface of the 

 shell, the forms observed undoubtedly pertain to its structure, and 

 as, from the focal adjustment which their examination requires, they 

 evidently connect the inner and outer surfaces, they can scarcely 

 be anything else than pores traversing the shell. When the eggs 

 were received by me, on the 30th, they all presented a circular 

 depression on their flattened surface, which, in the eggs of many 

 of our moths, indicates a stage in their development. They were 

 of a light honey-yellow, with some reddish spots or clouds macu- 

 lating their circumference. By the 2d of July, the larvae could be 

 plainly seen in frequent motion in a few of the eggs, through the 

 transparent shell. On the following day, the larval bands were 

 quite visible. 



Young larvae. Four of the larvae were disclosed July 4th, and 

 twelve additional during the five following days ; of these the last 

 ones to emerge were quite feeble, four of them dying without 

 partaking of food. None other of the eggs developed, probably from 

 failure in fertilization, resulting from a disturbed coition. The 



