JOURNAL 



JDffo JBork ^nfomologiral £otipfyj. 



Vol. XVI. MARCH, 1908. No. 1. 



NOTES ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF DATANA 

 ROBUSTA STRECKER. 



By W. S. Wright, 

 San Diego, California. 



On November 13, 1906, I took a large number of larvse of 

 Datana robusta on Rhus latirina. They were then nearing the end of 

 the final stage, and in a few days all had pupated. I placed the pupae 

 in a dry place for the winter, and early in the summer of 1907 sifted 

 them out of the dirt and rubbish and placed them in a cage in a moder- 

 ately dry cellar. July 13 they began to emerge and on the twenty- 

 seventh I found a pair in copulation ; these were isolated and on the 

 twenty-ninth near sundown the female deposited her eggs. 



Not being able to spare much time, and being somewhat inexperi- 

 enced in life-history studies, I sent some of the eggs to Mr. Fordyce 

 Grinnell, Pasadena, Cal., who consented to describe the caterpillars in 

 their different stages, while I was to make notes on their habits, etc. 



Mr. Grinnell's larvse died in the txiird stage, but I supplied him 

 with material for the fourth and fifth stages; in his descriptions stage 

 three is missing but I have supplied it from my own notes. 



I have presented my notes in full, making little attempt at abridg- 

 ment, trusting that whatever they may lack in value will be made up 

 in added interest. 



July 30. About sundown last night I observed the female deposit- 

 ing eggs in a mass on the wood near the bottom of the cage. There 

 are 90 eggs in the mass. The egg is about .8 mm. in diameter, sub- 

 globular, pearly white, the surface having the appearance of parch- 

 ment. A semitransparent spot at the apex is slightly depressed, form- 

 ing a shallow pit. The base is somewhat flattened. 



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