10 
Psyche 
[March-June 
Figure 5. Comparison of the repagula (r) and eggs (e) of Ascaloptynx 
furciger (A) and Ululodes mexicana (B). 
or grass-stems are always selected (figures i-b) ; the substrate be- 
neath the egg-clumps is nearly always densely strewn with dry oak 
litter. 
Ascaloptynx furciger eggs are laid in dense clumps completely 
surrounding their twigs, near the tips of the stems, perhaps 22 to 
55 cm (8 to 18 inches) from the ground. The structure of the egg- 
mass suggests that it might consist of several long, parallel, tightly- 
spiraling rows of eggs. These clumps typically include 35 to 45 
ovoid eggs, each one glued by its mid-section to its twig with its 
longer dimension oriented nearly horizontally (figure 7). The 
freshly laid Ascaloptynx egg is bright yellow-ochre in color, aver- 
aging 2.1 to 2.4 mm in length and 1.2 to 1.3 mm in diameter; it is 
thus larger and proportionally less elongate than that of Ululodes. 
It possesses two axially located micropyles, about 0.15 mm in 
diameter, identical to those of Ululodes in all respects except size 
(figure 3-B). The chorion of the egg displays no sculpturing. 
As in Ululodes ' several days after oviposition a whitish girdling 
line appears at the “head” end of the egg, outlining the extent of 
the egg cap (figure 8). In Ascaloptynx , positioning of the eggs on 
the twig assures that every egg cap will flip downward on its hinge; 
