166 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



2nd, 1900. On August 3rd, 1901, a cluster of ova was found on 

 the underside of a leaf of Clematis vitalba ; on August 6th another 

 batch on a dead leaf of a wild hop plant, and on August 7th on 

 the upperside of a sallow leaf, all in the Sudbury district, whilst 

 a batch of ova deposited on July 1 6th, 1901, hatched on July 

 31st (Ransom). Phillips observed a $ ovipositing about 9.30 

 p.m., on July 22nd, 1901, at Homerton Broad ; she had already 

 deposited a few eggs on a rush stem, and then laid- a total 

 of 188 in a box on the way home. Griffiths found eggs 

 in September, 1888, laid on a wooden fence, at Portishead, 

 near the ground; Hewett notes eggs laid July 1 6th, 1891, at 

 York, Corbett on July 29th, 1900, at Doncaster ; Image says that 

 he has a record of eggs hatching at Brighton on August 28th, 

 1862, and Holdaway on August 2nd, 1898, at Basingstoke. 



Ovum. — The egg is oval in shape, the length : breadth : height : : 

 5 : 4 : 3, flattened at top and bottom, the two ends rounded, the 

 micropyle visible, as a minute dot at one end, to the naked eye. 

 The colour greenish- or pinkish-white with a depression on both 

 the upper and lower surfaces. These depressions of a dark greyish 

 hue, each surrounded at some distance by a pink or purple zone 

 of the same shape as the outline of the egg. The egg is of a 

 beautiful white colour, with a faint pinkish tinge, and exhibiting 

 distinct opalescent characters. It is covered with a very well- 

 marked but exceedingly close polygonal reticulation, above which is a 

 much coarser reticulation. The micropylar area is of a deep orange 

 colour, and forms a circular patch at one end. The cells forming 

 the micropylar area are of exactly the same character as those 

 covering the rest of the surface, and the micropyle proper bears 

 a close resemblance to a sea-urchin with the tentacles retracted. 

 This latter, however, would be practically indistinguishable were it 

 not for the fact that the coloured ring in the centre of which it is 

 placed makes an excellent guide as to its position. The empty 

 eggshell is of a beautiful milk-white tint, with no darker rings or 

 shading [Eggs received from Bacot, July 8th, 1896, and description 

 made under a two-thirds lens on the same date]. 



Variation of eggs. — Buckler says that there is variation in 

 the outline of the eggs, some being rounder than others. Bacot 

 notes slight differences between northern eggs (from York) and 

 southern eggs (from Mucking and Reading), the York ones having 

 a larger pale area, smaller spots, and narrower streaks of dark colour 

 than those from Reading and Mucking, whilst the eggs from the 

 last-named place are rather larger than those from York and 

 Reading. The eggs of another batch from Tenby were so different 

 in appearance from those obtained from other localities that it was 

 difficult, until the larvae hatched, to believe that they really were 

 eggs of C. potatoria. Two of these sets of eggs are thus described : 



I. — Ova (from Mucking): Length 1-9111111. — 2111111. ; width rOmm. ; thick- 

 ness 1 '2mm. — I *3mm. ; surface shiny, varnished in appearance; rather strongly 

 pitted compared with the egg of Eutricha quercifolia (postca) ; the surface 

 cell-reticulation small, and sharp around the micropyle, more definitely a network 

 on the remainder of the surface ; colour pale grey-green with a broad zone of 

 porcelain-white slightly tinged with green on upper and lower halves; a broad band 

 of the same colour round the edges and over the ends, terminating as a dark spot at 

 the micropyle (Bacot, Jul}- 29th, 1900). 



