INVESTIGATIONS PERTAINING TO TEXAS BEEKEEPING. 19 
minute for a period of thirty minutes, and then, after a short rest, have 
continued again at the same rate. The eggs are always securely fastened 
to whatever object they are laid upon. The eggs are always laid in 
eavities. In the cage experiments this was on the side of the comb, often 
where the walls of a cell had been turned in. An example of this is 
shown at Plate II, 6. Only one egg is deposited at a time, although in 
working over the comb a female often places the eggs close together. 
On the smaller pieces of comb, furnished to moths confined in cages, as 
many as seven eggs were found in a single cavity. The number of eggs 
actually deposited by one female has not been determined, but females 
which had not deposited eggs were killed and the eggs in their ovaries 
were counted. The largest number of eggs found in ovaries of a single 
female was 1128 and the average number was 1014. 
In the cages, under artificial conditions, if comb was not supplied for 
the female, she would deposit her eggs in any rough place detected by 
her ovipositor. In many instances the females would refuse to oviposit 
on cappings which were furnished in some of the cages, but would go 
around the base of the lamp globe in which they were confined and fill 
every crevice with eggs. Sometimes these eggs would be fastend on the 
outside of the glass, and in such cases the globe would be fastened to its 
resting: place. 
The average time consumed in depositing the full quota of eggs varies 
with the brood. In the first brood it is nine days, but in the second only 
seven days. During the last part of the egg-laying period the female 
appears to be in a great hurry, and during the last two days she oviposits 
during the day as well es during the night, at times stopping to rest. 
If disturbed during the resting periods, she vigorously resumes her egg- 
laying. The females usually die while ovipositing and the last three or 
four eggs are barely extruded from the ovipositor. If a female is being 
killed or injured, she will attempt to oviposit even after she is unable 
to walk. 
.The females will deposit their eggs even when they have not had the 
opportunity to mate. In all cases where the sexes were not properly 
paired, the females would finally oviposit, the period of oviposition being, 
however, much shorter than the natural one. Although many females 
which did not mate were confined in cages and although they deposited 
eggs, none of these unfertilized eggs ever hatched. It seems a fairly safe 
conclusion that parthenogensis does not occur with this species. 
THE EGG. 
The egg (Plate II, b) is elliptical, measuring about one-fiftieth of an 
inch (.48 mm.) in length and .43 mm. in width. The shell is pearly 
white in color and slightly roughened by wavy lines running across it 
diagonally at regular intervals. If the egg is not deposited on dark comb 
it is very difficult to see and even then experience is necessary to detect 
all of the eggs present. : 
The embryonic development of the egg has not been studied, but a few 
observations have been made upon the incubation period. Throughout . 
this period the egg gradually changes from a white to a yellow color. 
About four days before hatching, the developing larva: becomes visible as 
