BIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF THE GBEEN CLOVER WORM 



9 



and in this manner locates the eggs, one at a time, on the foliage of 

 the food plant. In alfalfa and clover fields the writer has found 

 the eggs nearly always on the under side of the foliage to the number 

 usually of one, and never more than four on a leaflet. 



In order that data might be procured as to the number of eggs the 

 female of this species usually lays in the course of her life, individuals 

 were captured in the field and. confined for the most part in vials 

 provided with fresh leaves of food plants and bits of moist blotting 

 paper. Table 1 shows egg records of 24 of these moths. The maxi- 

 mum number of eggs laid by a single female was 670. Moths cap- 

 tured by the writer late in the fall refused to oviposit. 



Table 1. — Data on oviposition and longevity of moths of the green cover worm 



captured in the field, 1916 



No. 



Date of 

 capture 



Apr. 



Mar. 25 

 30 

 30 

 3 

 3 

 3 

 3 

 3 

 7 

 7 

 12 

 12 

 12 

 18 

 15 | July 25 



Date 



Date 



Length 

 of ovi- 

 position 

 period 



first egg 

 was laid 



last egg 

 was laid 







Days 



Mar. 26 



Apr. 4 



9 



Apr. 1 



12 



11 



1 



3 



2 



4 



9 



5 



4 



10 



6 



5 



10 



5 



5 



12 



7 



4 



8 



4 



13 



21 



8 



8 



18 



10 



15 



16 



1 



15 



16 



1 



13 



22 



9 



19 



21 



2 



July 25-26 



July 26 



1 



25-26 



27 



1 



25-26 



31 



5 



25-26 



28 



2 



25-26 



27 



1 



25-26 



Aug. 1 



6 



25-26 



4 



9 



26-27 



3 



7 



25-26 



3 



8 



25-26 



July 26 



1 



Number 



of eggs 



laid 



Date of 

 death 



175 



270 . 



60 



216 | 

 125 I 



155 

 266 

 120 

 114 

 135 

 227 

 107 

 121 

 212 

 300 

 153 

 224 

 137 

 670 

 193 

 345 

 208 



Apr. 5 

 13 

 4 

 10 

 11 

 10 

 15 

 10 

 23 

 23 

 16 

 17 

 23 

 22 



July 27 

 29 



Aug. 1 



July 28 

 28 



Aug. 1 



Length 

 of life in 

 captivity 



Days 



The oviposition period may last 1 1 days or more, and during the 

 spring and summer months extends throughout most of the life of the 

 adult. 



It was observed that moths kept in captivity would seldom deposit 

 large batches of eggs on consecutive days, but would rest from egg 

 laying for a day or two after such exertions. One female oviposited 

 on consecutive days, as follows: 168, 8, 159, 83, 0, 0, 161, 0, 60, 31; 

 another: 119, 40, 59, 0, 0, 11, 0, 110, 6. The greatest number of eggs 

 laid during any one period of 24 hours was 208. 



LONGEVITY OF ADULT 



Table 1 shows the length of life of 24 females captured in the field 

 during the spring and summer months. It will be observed that the 

 longest time any individual lived was 16 days. As a check on this 

 record, which includes only mollis captured in the field, a few records 

 were obtained from adults reared in confinement . Table 2 shows the 

 results obtained. The average length of life in this experiment came 



38097°— 2nt 2 



