76 
ORCHARD MOTH CATERPILLARS. 
though hardly the sixteenth of an inch in length, dispersing themselves 
about the inside of their box, and when disturbed were already able to 
spin a thread to attach themselves by. 
On the 28th of November I was favoured, by Mr. B. Danks, of 
Charlton House, Hartlebury, Kidderminster, with a tar-grease band on 
paper, about 2 ft. 3 in. long and 6 in. wide, as an example of the 
method in which the mixture used captured and held fast the moths. 
On this I found upwards of two hundred Winter Moths (male and 
female). In some cases the females had expelled a portion of their 
store of eggs, so that, where they were uninjured, the little knot of 
minute greenish bodies was very conspicuous on the dark sticky - 
banding mixture. The eggs were of a pale or watery green colour, 
pitted over the surface with hexagonal (or irregularly hexagonal) 
depressions; as nearly as I could count or estimate, there might be 
about twenty of these little pits or depressions in the length of the egg. 
These markings were much more defined in the newly-laid eggs 
than in those in progress of development, so that the honeycomb-like 
markings which were irregular in the previously observed eggs showed 
very plainly in the recently expelled specimens. The colour also was 
of importance, as this, as well as the surface being punctured, agrees 
with the description given by Hr. E. L. Taschenberg of newly- 
deposited eggs of C. brumata. In the early spring observations we 
could only record them in the reddish tints which they gain in advance 
towards maturity, or in the various shades they assume just before 
hatching, from the tints of this very variously coloured larva showing 
through the transparent pellicle. 
All the other points in the life-history of the Winter Moth which 
it is necessary to be acquainted with for practical purposes have, 
I believe, been brought forward so thoroughly in previous Reports 
that there is no need to enter on them again here, excepting, perhaps, 
to notice the continued confirmation given to previous observations 
of the wingless female being in some cases transported to the trees in 
connection with the winged male. Of this I have received direct record 
from observers during the past season, the pair being in one case 
captured after flight, and arrival in the tree, and preserved in con¬ 
firmation of the statement. This habit is important to notice practi¬ 
cally, and is the reason for our use of lanterns and sticky boards 
expressly to attract the winged male moths, whose presence otherwise 
would not require notice. 
The March Moth was observed by Mr. C. Lee Campbell, of 
Glewstone Court, Ross, Herefordshire, as beginning to lay eggs about 
the middle of March. The specimen sent me on the 15th of March I 
found on the 18th had laid eggs, using the hairs from the pencil at 
the end of the tail (as is the custom with this moth) for a covering. 
