DIMORPHA VERSICOLORA. 241 



$ was confined were utilised, the ovipositor being thrust round in 

 such a manner as to suggest that this may be a frequent habit in 

 nature. The eggs are conspicuous when first laid, but soon darken ; 

 this £ laid just ioo eggs, and died on March 4th, the abdomen being 

 quite empty ; the larvae commenced to hatch on April 6th. A second 



2 found in cop. before 5 p.m., February 28th, 1893, separated from 

 the male at 10.30 p.m., and commenced laying the same night in 

 crevices of box, between two layers of cardboard ; some of these rows 

 consisted of as many as 20 eggs and were very regularly arranged. 

 This 2 laid 136 eggs and died on March 5th; the larvae commenced 

 to hatch on April nth {Ent. Rec, iv., p. 156). Gascoyne, who 

 noticed that the females blundered much in laying their eggs in a 

 box, "placed a £ on the main stem of a young birch-plant, growing 

 in a flower-pot ; she at once commenced to ascend, and, passing along 

 one of the thin lateral twigs, the before awkward moth now seemed 

 quite at home, and with perfect freedom of movement she clasped the 

 branch, adjusted herself beneath it, and, curling up the abdomen, 

 passed it up one side of the twig, bringing it forward until it ap- 

 proached the hinder legs ; then, passing the ovipositor over to the 

 upper surface, deposited the first egg, close to the hind legs and across 

 the twig, a little towards the side from which it was delivered ; then, 

 slightly elongating the body, another was laid alongside the first, followed 

 by a third and so on, until nine or ten had been deposited in the most 

 regular manner, and having the appearance of a row of miniature 

 vegetable marrows, laid side by side. The abdomen having now 

 been elongated to its fullest extent, she withdrew it, and, passing it to the 

 opposite side of the twig, bringing over the ovipositor as before, placed 

 an egg exactly end to end with the first one laid, and so on throughout 

 the second row ; a third row is sometimes laid on the first." Gas- 

 coyne further observes that he has batches of the shells where third and 

 even fourth rows have been raised, and adds : "'The female now takes 

 wing, alighting on a neighbouring twig, and the operation is repeated with 

 intervals of rest until she has laid about half her store, the remainder 

 being laid on a subsequent evening. The exact moment for laying the 

 eggs appears not to be under the direct control of the female, for, when 

 the impulse is on, she is most impatient to adjust herself, and if she has 

 not completely succeeded when the proper moment arrives for the 

 passage of the egg, she appears to have no power to retain it, and it 

 becomes attached to any part that the ovipositor may happen to touch 

 at the moment of emission. The number of eggs averages about 160, 

 those emitted rarely exceed 120. Strong, healthy females will lay their 

 eggs with the greatest precision and nicety, the smaller and weaker 

 ones are generally bunglers throughout, and deposit them very 

 irregularly." Merrifield notes* complete batches laid by two females that 

 emerged and paired respectively on March 24th, 1859, and March 25th, 

 1859, as consisting of 150 and 154 eggs apiece, and laid between these 

 dates and March 31st in batches of from 12 to 44, the eggs being chiefly 

 deposited between 2 p.m — 4 p.m., and at dusk. Another female, between 

 April 2nd and April 4th, laid 158 eggs in batches of from 4 to 35, and, 

 being dissected, 35 eggs were found in the body, most of which were 

 small and soft, only about 1 o being full-sized and hard. Another £ 

 paired on April 4th, and by 1 p.m. on April 5th had laid 174 eggs in 5 

 * Merriheld gives (A.B., Ent. Wk. Int., vol. x.,pp. 47 — 48) a further excellent 

 account of the egglaying of this species. 



