G BRITISH "LEPIDOPTERA. 



Naturaliste, xiv., p. 280.* That it was not a specially dark aberra- 

 tion that he named, appears clear from his note, " fort commun aux 

 mois de Mai et de Juin." His description reads : 



Macroglossa nigra (n. sp.). — Lepidoptere fort commun aux mois de mai et de 

 juin, a vol fort rapide en plein jour et a l'ardeur du soleil. Ailes superieures d'un 

 noir corbeau, sans taches. Les inferieures d'un fauve roux, presque transparentes, 

 avec la base un peu obscure et une bordure terminale fine, noire. Tete et thorax 

 gris, fort poilus ; abdomen de la couleur des superieures. Les poils lateraux de la 

 base de leur queue d'oiseau ont la meme coloration grise que le thorax. 



Egglaying. — Of the egglaying of Sesia ( Macroglossum) stellaiarum, 

 Prideaux writes ( Ent. Rec, xii., p. 268) that, from July ioth-20th 

 1900, this species was abundant on the South Devon coast where 

 he repeatedly had the opportunity of watching it egglaying on Galium 

 mollugo while hovering on the wing. The insect, he says, selects 

 the top of a flowering spray as a rule, carefully examining it before 

 depositing an egg. Rejected sprays, on being subsequently searched, 

 were found to have been previously bespoken for the purpose; 

 two eggs of this species were never laid on the same panicle of 

 the plant although ova of Anticlea rubidata, and probably those of 

 species of the genus Melanippe, were commonly found near those of 

 6". stellatarum. The green globular egg of the latter, though 

 large, is not a very conspicuous object amongst the masses of round 

 buds of the Galium, on which it is usually deposited ; but it has been 

 occasionally found laid on one of the upper whorls of leaves. The egg 

 period, Prideaux notes, lasted only seven days. Harwood observes 

 that the eggs are laid by the ? on the flowers and flower-buds of 

 Galium mollugo, that she does not alight during the process but 

 keeps on the wing all the time, curling up her abdomen so as to 

 place the egg on the underside of the flower or bud (Buckler's 

 Larvae, ii., p. 120). The eggs are laid singly, only one in the same 

 place, on leaves and upper twigs of Stellatae. A specimen was watched 

 at Arcachon laying its eggs on leaves of Rubia tiuctorutu precisely 

 as noted by Harwood (Chapman). Laid at the junction of the 

 pedicels of the flowerets of one of the lower lateral branches of 

 the main spike of flowers of Galium verum ; each egg is laid on 

 its long side, and its semitransparent green colour makes it very 

 inconspicuous among the flowers and buds of the yellow bedstraw, 

 and matching wonderfully well in size and appearance the young 

 seed-capsules thereof, although it differs considerably in colour, being 

 of a brighter and more pearly green (Bacot). Eggs laid from Novem- 

 ber 1st — 5th, 1901, in confinement, at Scarborough (Head). Ransom 

 observes that, waiting patiently by a patch of Galium verum in 

 the hot sun, he watched a $ hovering over the flowers, neither 

 alighting nor sucking the honey; after a short time it selected a head, 

 clasped the flowers with all its legs, turning at the same time its 

 abdomen down and placing an egg on the side of one of the small 

 unopened buds of the Galium; the moth vibrated its wings very 

 rapidly throughout the process, possibly for the purpose of supporting 

 itself, as otherwise its weight might bear down the flower-head. 

 The act of oviposition was observed on man)- occasions and he was thus 

 enabled to verify his first impressions. The ovum was nearly always 

 placed on an unopened flower-bud, occasionally, however, on the under- 

 side of a leaf (out of some 200 found, he obtained only a very small 

 number laid on leaves). He further states that, when the flower opens, the 



