THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE INSECT 115 



oiE June. Soon afterwards the females deposit their eggs in 

 masses of about two hundred, each upon the twigs. The 

 moths, having completed the cycle of life, die soon after the 

 eggs are laid. 



The eggs thus deposited early in July are to remain un- 

 hatched until the following spring. The actual formation of 

 the tiny caterpillars from the contents of the egg takes place, 

 however, within a few weeks after they are laid. The minute 

 but fully-formed caterpillars may be found within the egg 

 shells, by a careful examination, any time between September 

 and the following April. The caterpillars remain during this 

 long period quietly confined within their narrow houses, but 

 when the warmth of the spring sunshine penetrates " their 

 abodes, they eat off the tops of the egg shells, and come out 

 ready to break their long fast upon the tender foliage of the 

 opening buds* 



As a result of much patient watching, Mr. Fiske was fortu- 

 nate enough to observe one of the moths depositing her eggs. 

 He has recorded his observations in his notes as follows : 



On the afternoon of June 27, three pairs of freshly-emerged Clisiocampa 

 disstria moths were found in the breeding cages mating, and two of them 

 placed, without separating, under a bell jar with some green twigs of apple. 

 At 8 p. ra. one pair had separated, and the female was very active, buzzing 

 around the interior of the bell jar. Fifteen minutes later she had taken 

 notice of the apple twigs, and was more slowly crawling over them. By 

 9 o'clock she had selected a site for an egg ring, and had just begun its 

 deposition. About a dozen eggs were laid at this time, in the form of a 

 right triangle, one side forming what was to be one edge of the future egg 

 ring. On what would correspond to the hypothenuse of this triangle she 

 was now busy depositing more eggs, making each row longer and increas- 

 ing consequently the width of the future band, still keeping the general 

 form of the egg mass the same. The placing of the first egg in each row 

 is accomplished with some difficulty, and is also a matter of some delicacy, 

 for if it is not placed correctly, the whole band may suffer ; but after this is 

 done, the remainder are easily fixed in their proper positions, the abdomen, 

 which is stretched nearly to its limit, so moving that each egg slips into the 

 space between the end egg on the row under construction, and the corre- 

 sponding egg in the row just Completed. The eggs are laid at intervals of 

 ibout half a minute, and after each is deposited there is a second's 

 pause, followed by a little pile of bubbles of creamy whiteness, which rise 

 around it and help to form the tough, protecting winter coat. It is very 

 difficult to get a good view of the operation at close hand, on account of 



