290 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



loose boards or timbers of barns or out-buildings ; in birds' 

 nests, and many other places, occasionally on leaves on the 

 tree and sometimes on the fruit ; but undoubtedly the trunks 

 and branches of the trees (Plate 42) are the most natural 

 places. As a rule, the eggs on the limbs are laid on the 

 under side, although in a few instances they have been found 

 on the upper side, but more or less concealed. In one case 

 an egg-cluster was found on a piece of old rope hanging from 

 a tree, and another on a thermometer hanging against the 

 outside of a chimney. It is not an uncommon thing to find 

 them in tent caterpillars' nests, and one was found deposited 

 on a spider's web on a fence. 



The typical form of an egg-cluster is elongated and slightly 

 narrowed at the end last laid. This form is subject to all 

 imaginable variations, according to the conditions under 

 which the mass of eggs is laid. In one instance, six appar- 

 ently complete egg-clusters were observed that had been laid 

 nearly on top of each other ; and in another, a female that 

 appeared to have died on her egg-cluster was nearly half 

 covered with eggs deposited by a second moth while laying 

 close by. Eggs laid by unfertilized females are usually 

 poorly covered with hair, and crippled females, as well as 

 those which have trouble about emerging, often leave a large 

 part of the hair of the abdomen in the pupal case. Eggs 

 laid by such females are usually stuck together in a loose 

 mass, poorly covered and easily separated. The adhesive 

 substance by which the eggs are attached to each other and 

 to the surface upon which they are deposited, as well as that 

 which causes the hairs of the abdomen to adhere to them, is 

 insoluble in dilute or absolute alcohol, chloroform or spirits 

 of turpentine. 



Scattered Eggs. 

 In nearly every case where a fertilized female was confined 

 in a box, she was found to scatter eggs while laying. The 

 eggs were dropped accidentally, the moth being unable to 

 attach them to the surface on which she rested. Frequently 

 a considerable number were dropped before she succeeded in 

 attaching a single egg ; but after a small number had been 

 securely deposited, fewer eggs were scattered, although occa- 

 sionally they were dropped throughout the entire process of 



