NO. 7 THE GOLD-BANDED SKIPPER CLARK TTJ 



Irregularities in the ribs are infrequent, only three cases having been 

 found. One ^gg with 19 ribs has an additional incomplete rib ex- 

 tending from the apex to a short distance beneath the shoulder. 

 Another ^gg with 19 ribs has an incomplete rib that extends upward 

 from the base to a short distance beneath the shoulder. A third ^gg 

 with 16 ribs has an incomplete rib that extends from the base half 

 way up to the shoulder. The ribs on either side of this incomplete 

 rib bend toward each other beyond it so that at the shoulder they are 

 the same distance apart as any two of the other ribs. The second rib 

 to the left of the incomplete rib forks just beneath the shoulder, the 

 right branch joining the rib to the right at the shoulder. 



The ribs run from the upper portion of the curved border of the 

 flattened base upward to the summit. In the lower half of the egg they 

 are low, narrow, and inconspicuous, but they increase in height, width, 

 and prominence above the equator. In fresh eggs the ribs above the 

 equator may bear long irregular glassy hairs that soon wear ofif. 



The ribs are connected by very fine transverse lines placed very 

 close together, the oblong interstices between them over most of the 

 surface being roughly 8 to 10 times as long (transversely) as broad, 

 but becoming shorter toward the summit. In the lower half of the egg 

 these transverse lines are so faint as to be obsolescent ; in the upper 

 half they become more definite, higher, and somewhat more widely 

 spaced. Above the equator where the transverse lines join the vertical 

 ribs they become suddenly and greatly expanded so that the ribs appear 

 to be prominently and evenly beaded. 



The apical portion of the ^gg for an area about 0.5 mm in diameter, 

 or about half the diameter of the &gg itself, is occupied by a con- 

 spicuous irregular reticulation. Alternate ribs are continued to the 

 micropylar basin at the summit of the ^gg. Between these are usually 

 three stout and widely spaced transverse bars as high and conspicuous 

 as the ribs themselves. Some of the ribs here commonly fork, so that 

 the reticulation is composed of quadrate, triangular, rhombic, and 

 five-sided figures usually of more or less equal area. The ridges of 

 this reticulation, including the continuation of the ribs within this area, 

 are narrower and lower than the ribs beyond, smooth, high, abruptly 

 differentiated from the smooth surface of the ^gg, and very con- 

 spicuous. The apex of the ^gg is occupied by a small flat circular 

 micropylar basin. 



The eggs are yellow, becoming brownish yellow before hatching. 

 They are translucent, so that the head of the caterpillar is easily seen 

 through the thin shell. The empty ^gg shells are translucent white 

 with more or less of a pearly luster. 



