26 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 95 



dense masses, and on these the earHest caterpillars of the season are 

 to be found. As the season progresses and the caterpillars become 

 more numerous, the butterflies work inward from the periphery 

 toward the center of the masses of hog-peanut until every plant bears 

 its quota of caterpillars. 



Though single eggs are commonly found, most of the eggs are 

 deposited in groups of two or three. Strings of four are frequent and 

 strings of five (pi. 4, fig. 17) occasional. One string of six was 

 found. Sometimes two eggs are found side by side and unattached, 

 presumably laid by different females. One leaflet was discovered 

 which bore seven eggs in one group of three and two groups of two 

 each. 



Eggs of Rhabdoides ccllus. 



Figs. A-D. — A, egg with 17 ribs, lateral view. B, egg with 17 ribs, apical view. 

 C, egg with 18 ribs. D, egg with 19 ribs. All the eggs have the micropylar por- 

 tion chipped away. See also plate 3, fig. 17, and plate 5, figs. 28, 29. 



When the eggs are deposited in strings, the second egg is placed 

 between the equator and the pole of the first so that the vertical axes 

 of the two eggs make an angle of roughly 120° with each other, and the 

 third is placed on the second in the same way. The little egg strings 

 are thus very irregular, but only the first egg is fastened to, or touches, 

 the leaf. 



The eggs (pi. 4, fig. 17; pi. 6, figs. 28, 29; text fig. A, p. 26) are 

 subglobular, i mm in diameter, very nearly as high as broad, broadest 

 shortly above the base, with the upper portion very regularly and 

 broadly rounded and the broad flattened base slightly concave in the 

 center and rounded at the borders. 



The sides are marked with prominent vertical ribs (figs. A-D, 

 p. 26) that vary from 15 to 21, but are usually 17 and commonly 18, 

 in number. In 152 eggs the number of ribs was as follows: 15 (4) ; 

 16 (33) ; 17 (56) ; 18 (45) ; 19 (12) ; 20 (i) ; 21 (i). Expressed 

 in percentages the figures are approximately as follows: 15 (2.6 

 percent) ; 16 (22 percent) ; 17 (37 percent) ; 18 (29 percent) ; 19 (7.8 

 percent) ; 20 (0.6 percent) ; 21 (0.6 percent). 



