474 BRITISH LEPIDOPTERA. 



larvae found at Morocco. It belongs to the aestival form staudingeri, just as 

 incarnata comes from the vernal form austmcti. I have before me 3 examples 

 agreeing among themselves ; these are the only ones which I have thus far seen 

 (Austaut). 



k. ab. austauti-staudingeri, Aust., " Le Nat.," L, p. 85 (September 1st, 1879) ; 

 Kirby, "Cat.," p. 710 (1892) ; Bartel, " Palaeark. G-ross-Schmett.," ii., p. 198 (1900). 

 — Two examples of Smer. austauti, Stgr., bred at Bel- Abbas from the larvae which 

 formed the subject of my article in Le Naturaliste of August 1st " [i.e., "Discovery 

 of the larva of Smer. austauti"], the larvae being raised from eggs obtained 

 from a ? caught by my brother north of Maroc, but the imagines present such 

 a different appearance that, at first sight, it is difficult to recognize them. In general 

 they are of a very pale colour, and I do not know how to characterise them better 

 than by saying that all the pale grey shades of the type have become whitish, and 

 that those of a darker grey have passed into a greenish-grey so pale that this colour 

 hardly stands out from the ground colour ; all the wings, in addition, have a yellowish 

 gloss which gives the moth a very delicate aspect. Body entirely whitish, the trans- 

 verse lines vaguely defined, with a tendency to obsolescence. This splendid variety 

 appears to me to differ so much from the type that I do not hesitate to give it a 

 separate name. All second -brood examples appear to agree with this, and it seems 

 to be a regular second-brood form (Austaut). 



Egglaying. — Sladen reports (Ent., xxi., p. 14) that he has seen 

 this species laying its eggs whilst on the wing. Attached singly 

 or in pairs (laid side by side) on leaves of foodplant (Tutt) ; de- 

 posited in pairs on poplar leaves, on the upper- or underside 

 indifferently, generally from 5 to 7 feet from ground (indicates 

 possibly not the height at which the moth prefers to oviposit so 

 much as the height at which it was convenient to gather the 

 leaves) (Hellins). Sich notes (Ent., xxv., p. 217) finding, on 

 June 7th, 1892, at Barnes, 16 eggs, laid possibly by a crippled 

 $ , not singly but in two groups on a brown dead twig of balsam 

 poplar, and they were, like the twig, brown in colour. Bonhote 

 records (loc. cit.) taking 18 ova of the same species on one small leaf 

 at Harrow. Eggs laid singly on underside of poplar leaves 

 (Gordon) ; laid singly on underside of poplar leaf occasionally two 

 or three in a cluster on the same leaf but never more, the egg- 

 stage lasts 13 days (Ransom) ; found on July 9th, 1895, ni twos 

 and threes on poplar, the colour then yellow, but it disappeared 

 gradually by the 14th, and the larvae appeared on the 1 6th ; when 

 first laid the eggs are of a clear light green (Bartlett) ; pairing 

 obtained July 31st, i860, the $ began to lay next night, and 

 continued to do so until August 8th, having then laid nearly 150 

 eggs, these began to hatch on August 12th y Merrifield), ? seen 

 ovipositing on Salix alba in garden at 9 p.m. on July 8th, 1897, 

 at Ealing (Montgomery); eggs hatched on July 1 6th, 1895, a °d 

 fullfed larvae found next day. at Bristol (Bartlett); eggs found as 

 late as August 13th, 1885, at Barnstaple (Mathew); ova hatched as 

 early as March 22nd, 1894 (Prideaux). 



Ovum*. — Oval, inclining to circular in outline, varying from 

 rjmm, long and i^mm. wide to i^mm. long and i^mm. wide; 

 the height rather less than the width, the ends very rounded, when 

 first laid, plump without any depression ; of a pale pearly-green 

 colour ; the shell shiny, very finely pitted, with some trace of a 

 polygonal reticulation ; a faint, very finely reticulated depression at 

 one end of the egg forms the micropyle ; this latter is very difficult 



* Already described in detail (antca, pp. 3H6-387) and compared with ova of 

 Mimas tiliac and Smerintlius occllata. 



