HABITS OF THE IMAGO OF SMERINTHUS OCELLATUS. 331 



than at first) and this lasted for about half a minute. This aroused the 

 female who set free her companion, the latter immediately taking flight. 

 It would be interesting to know whether the male sought another 

 female, but, on his departure, the female slept again and did not 

 reawaken until 8.15. I then immediately enclosed her in a great muslin 

 bag in which was a large leafy sallow branch on which to deposit her 

 eggs. She flew noisily, stopping frequently to deposit an o^<; on a 

 leaf. In about 35 minutes she rested against a branch and became 

 still. The following evening she repeated the business an I did so for 

 six consecutive days. I carefully counted the eggs laid each day with the 

 following result : Ist day (May 25tb), 96 eggs ; 2nd day (May 26th), 65 

 eggs ; May 27th, 138 eggs ; May 28th, 54 eggs ; May 29th, 33 eggs ; 

 May 30th, 18 eggs ; the female dying the following day. I immedi- 

 ately convinced myself that there were no more eggs in the body, the 

 moth having completed the egg-laying on the 6th day, and I had 

 404 eggs. I need not describe the egg as it has already been described 

 by more competent observers {>'.(/., Ent. Becord, vi., p. 173). 



On June 8th, I obtained 384 larvje and 20 eggs remained unhatched. 

 I shared the caterpillars with several of my colleagues, retaining 200 for 

 myself ; these I reared on Fopulus canadcmi^i. I need not describe the 

 well-known larva, which varies little. I had reason to be satisfied 

 when I lost only 7 or 8 larv® during the first instar. On July 8th — 

 30 days after hatching — the earliest larva? entered the ground, and, 8 

 days later pupation was completed and I only had to await the spring for 

 the emergence of the imagines. The pupa?, in a wooden box, passed 

 the winter in an unheated room. The pupse were placed on a bed of 

 "heather" mould and covered with moss. The first imago emerged on 

 May 27th, 1899, and the emergences were continuous for 15 days — 

 177 perfect imagines and a score of cripples. 



There remained a final experiment to make. I wished to know if 

 copulation would take place in captivity, and if so, whether I should 

 obtain as many eggs as were laid by the $ parent of the brood. 



The imagines generally emerged at from 6 a.m. -8 a.m. Immedi- 

 ately their wings were dry they settled down until about 8 p.m., when 

 the males began to fly, seeking the females, and pairing with them 

 freely in the enclosure. As is generally the case, the insects remained 

 at rest, apparently sleeping during the period of copulation — some 22-23 

 hours. The couple arranged themselves vertically, the male with its 

 head pointing downwards as other observers have noticed in other 

 species. I purposely disturbed several pairs but the female almost 

 immediately returned to the previous position, and I concluded that 

 this was possibly necessary owing to the weight of the abdomen of the 

 female. Separation took place in the same manner as I have described 

 for the first pair at the counuencement of this note. Wishing to know the 

 number of eggs laid, six pairs were kept under observation, and tlie eggs 

 laid by the females numbered respectively — 284, 220, 187, 160, 121, 

 and 93— /.<■., a total of 1065 eggs, with an averagt" of 178 for each 

 female. May I conclude from this that the insect is more fruitful 

 when at liberty than in captivity ? or, is there some other reason, which, 

 until now, has escaped the notice of observers ? Here is still a point 

 for investigation. 



I have taken the greatest care a\ itli the observations here rccordetl, 

 without pretending that I have at all exhausted the points touched on 

 in the life-history of this interesting species. 



