41 



glue was discharged, completely covering it and hardening almost 

 immediately. The females died within a few hours after complet- 

 ing oviposition. 



When first laid the eggs are nearly white but soon became a 

 dull gray. They measure on the average 1.2 mm. in length and 

 .75 mm. in diameter at the upper end, tapering slightly to the 

 lower end. They are squarely cut off at the upper end but rounded 

 at the lower. The upper end is also distinctly margined with 

 white, the central area beingdarker and somewhat depressed. At 

 first this depression is very slight but gradually more pronounced 

 as the embryo caterpillar becomes fully formed. 



Small size of the egg-masses this year. — The egg-masses are said 

 to contain from 300 to 400 eggs. Riley states '* that he found the 

 number in five masses ranging from 380-416. Compared with these 

 figures the egg masses this year are very small as indicated by the 

 examination of a large number taken in the vicinity of Gepeva 

 and from various sections of the State. They average only half 

 this size, containing, as a rule, but about 200 eggs. Many were 

 much smaller than this. As each female moth probably deposits 

 all of her eggs in- one mass this indicates an unusual falling off 

 in the number of eggs deposited. 



Tim,e of egg laying and period of incubation. — In the latitude 

 of New York the eggs are laid during the last week in June and 

 first week in July. 



The young caterpillars are fully developed within the eggs 

 before the summer is over, but do not escape until the following 

 spring. On August 29, an examination pf eggs showed fully 

 developed caterpillars. Unlike the apple-tree tent-caterpillars 

 which were found bent backward in the eggs examined, all of 

 the caterpillars in about 100 eggs opened by the writer were bent 

 forward nearly double so that the head and posterior part of 

 the body came nearly together. 



The larva or caterpillar. — The earliest caterpillars probably 

 appear with the first warm days of spring. This season they 

 were found about Geneva during the last week in March^ The 

 period of hatching, however, extends over a month or more, as 

 young caterpillars that had not yet passed their first molt were 



■■•Amer. Ent. a d Bot., 2: 261. 



