364 



THE GYPSY MOTH. 



depositing a small quantity of hair, which is caused to ad- 

 here, probably by a slight discharge of fluids. One egg 

 is fastened to the surface, another is placed beside it and 

 others on each side of these. As soon as the foundation is 

 started, other eggs are laid upon it and the mass is built 

 along ; that part of the cluster next to the surface on which 

 the moth rests is always kept a little in advance of the 

 eggs laid on top of it, and is the widest part of the 

 structure. The eggs when laid are covered with an ad- 

 hesive fluid, which not only causes them to adhere where 

 they have been placed by the ovipositor, but also causes 

 the abdominal hair of the female, which she rubs off by the 

 continual movement of the abdominal segments, to adhere 

 to them. As laying progresses, the abdomen shortens, 

 and the hair from the under side of the anterior segments 

 furnishes the covering for the last-laid eggs. 



The term layer may properly be applied to the eggs that 

 are deposited on the surface upon which the moth is rest- 

 ing, for they conform to that surface, however smooth or 

 uneven it may be, but those outside of this layer are packed 

 in very irregularly. In nearly every case where the eggs 

 are laid upon a vertical or nearly vertical surface, the lay- 

 ing is done from below upwards, the lower eggs being the 

 first deposited, while the upper ones are the last. In gen- 

 eral, from two to three days are required for oviposition, 

 but the time is subject to considerable variation. The 

 greater part of the egg-cluster is usually deposited during 

 the first twenty-four hours. In one case a large female 

 moth which began laying at 6 p.m., Aug. 6, 1895, did not 

 complete her egg-cluster until 11.30 a.m., August 16. The 

 female does not usually deposit all the eggs contained in the 

 body. In the case of the female mentioned above, there 

 were 201 eggs remaining in the abdomen of the moth, while 

 the egg-mass which she had deposited contained 794 eggs. 



Eggs removed by Dissection of Female Moths. 



The female moths are often attacked while laying, and 

 mutilated or entirely consumed by a few insectivorous birds 

 and predaceous insects. Of the latter, the large wood ants, 

 Camponotus jpennsylvanims (De G.), sometimes kill the fe- 



