ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 207 
- €@g ina flower cluster, although occasionally she will deposit 
_ Several on the same plant. However, as many as six or seven 
have been found in a single cluster, but these must have been 
d by different females or by the same female at different 
times. We concur with Prof. Shull in saying that the egg-shell 
~ 
___ is Mot eaten. He says, “my observations on this point are at 
___Yariance with the statement commonly made that butterfly 
i: larvae devour the shell from which they emerge before be- 
te, are a large number of species, the young larvae of 
q Reds not eat the ogg shell. In the case of Pyrgus tessellata, 
eggs of which we have found abundantly on Malva borealis, 
The young larvae of ausonides escape by eating away a por- 
"tion of one side of the egg shell. Their first vegetable food 
consists of the young and tender sepals and petals or very 
rarely the leaves of their food plant. As they mature and after 
the flowers have disappeared they feed on the seed pods. In 
captivity, the mature larvae are inclined to be larvaphagous and 
will readily devour each other when opportunity offers. There 
is a striking resemblance between the larva of ausonides and 
that of several species of Pontia, particularly protodice, “more 
alike,” writes Edwards, “in color, form, and markings than 
often happens between species of the same genus.” There is 
no pupal resemblance whatsoever. As a rule, the duration of 
’ the instars we have found to be fairly regular but may vary 
| considerably according to the condition of the weather. 
