56 
Psyche 
[Sept.-Dee. 
to prefer the smooth surface of the glass, because the eggs were 
deposited on the glass and cork more often than on the corn 
in the rearing cages, which are described by the writer, Som- 
merman (5). 
When males were continually present, egg-laying started from 
two to four days after moulting to the adult, and continued two 
to four weeks, but eggs were not always deposited each day. 
The number of eggs in the first group deposited ranged from 
three to nine, and as the end of the oviposition period ap- 
proached the number did not always dwindle. The number of 
egg masses per individual ranged from one to fourteen. There 
seemed to be a tendency to add eggs to previously deposited 
masses, resulting in fewer masses with a larger number of eggs 
per mass. Some females also scattered individual eggs. Ma- 
terial collected in the field indicated that the eggs were usually 
deposited in masses. There did not appear to be any particular 
production peak, the number varying from day to day without 
any gradual increase or decline. The maximum number of eggs 
deposited by any female was 92. Death usually occurred five 
or six days after oviposition ceased. 
Non-fertilized females usually deposited their first eggs from 
three to eight days after the last moult. Fifty was the max- 
imum number laid by any virgin. None of these ever hatched. 
After oviposition ceased these females continued to live up to 
twenty-four days, making the adult stage for virgins usually 
about forty-three days, whereas the adult stage for fertilized 
females lasted about twenty-one days. Adult males usually 
lived about thirty-nine days but one male was collected in the 
field April 9, 1940 and died June 15, having lived sixty-seven 
days in a rearing tube. It is probable that this male had also 
passed the winter as an adult. 
The process of oviposition is similar to that described for 
Ccecilius manteri Sommerman (6). Eggs are deposited in 
masses and silk threads are spread over them but not in a dense 
sheet as in C. manteri or E. californicus. The silk threads are 
numerous. They criss-cross at various heights forming a loose 
network. The females wander about after depositing each egg. 
Within thirty minutes one female had deposited a mass of six 
eggs, and had started to cover them with silk. She rapidly turned 
and turned, fastening the threads here and there, and within 
four minutes had completely covered the mass and wandered 
away. 
