5 
“ scattered from about six inches from the ground up to eight feet on 
all sides of the tree, singly and in small groups.” I asked Mr. Holland 
if he had ever seen the eggs on a tree trunk, and he replied that he 
had never met with the ova in a state of nature, but that Captain 
Robertson found some on the trunk of a tree in the same way as 
Mr. Battley. Mr. Holland continues in his letter, “ May not the eggs 
in these cases have been laid by cripples ? 1 find in the woods as well 
as in the breeding box there is always a small proportion of imperfectly 
developed moths which would not be able to move much. One thing 
is certain, wherever fagi lays its eggs, whether on trunks or leaves, the 
moth is actively on the move when ovipositing, so we should not expect 
to find the eggs in a batch close together.” The same gentleman also 
writes to me :—“ They (the 2 s) appeared quite unable to deposit eggs 
without being on the wing. Even the crippled ones went through the 
motion of flying as well as they were able.” This seems to prove full}' 
that the two instances mentioned above were accidental, and besides it 
would be curious, as Mr. Battley suggested, if the eggs were normally 
laid on the trunks where they are very conspicuous, that the fact should 
altogether have escaped observation. Duration in ova stage: —Mr. 
Holland says that the duration of the ova stage is usually about a 
fortnight if the weather suits, and that they hatch a few at a time as 
they are laid. Colour when laid and colour changes of eggs: —The late 
Mr. William Buckler ( Larva of British Butterflies and Moths, ii., 65) 
gives a very minute and careful account of the colour changes of the 
ova, describing from two which he received from the Rev. Bernard 
Smith on the 27th June, 1877, and which were laid by a dark variety 
of the 2 • “The egg,” lie says, “ was of a good size, circular, flattened 
a little beneath, and with a slight central depression above, the surface 
glistening as a' pearl. Viewed through a strong lens it was seen to be 
most minutely pitted ; it was cream coloured with a brown central spot 
in the depression above. On the morning of the 30tli they were of a 
mottled appearance, reminding me of a full ripe greengage plum, some 
parts with a pinkish bloom, another part at the side like an internal 
blotch of a deep purple, a pale flesh coloured ring occupied the place 
of the previous brown central spot which had faded, and near this ring 
on one of the eggs now appeared smaller twin spots of purple. On 
the 1st July they changed to a deep purple nearly all over, with a small 
central spot of deep purple encircled by a paler halo of flesh colour. 
On the morning of July 2nd the eggs appeared clouded irregularly, 
and one larva hatched about 10.30 a.m. whilst I was looking at it.” 
Larva.— Hatching : — Mrs. Bazett (Ent . Record, ii., 210) after 
detailing the colour changes of the egg, says, describing the emergence 
of the larva :—“ Presently a minute black spot appears, it gets larger 
and larger, and with a glass you can see the head of the insect eating 
round the shell until the hole is large enough, when out bursts the 
head, and two pairs of long prolegs like those of an ant, and with 
this it wriggles about till one segment after another comes out, and 
it then looks more like an ant than anything else; these legs are 
for ever on the move, and the head rocks from side to side. First 
it eats its egg-shell, then sleeps, and walks about in search of food. 
For two days it appears only to eat the hairs on the leaves or on the 
brown stipules of the stems; the third day it attacks the leaves.” 
They appear to require extremely little if any food for the first three 
