MOTH MILLER 
607 
MATING AND OVIPOSITION. 
During the mating period the males are 
more active than the females; and at this 
time can be noticed “ drumming’’ with 
their wings, the vibrations of which are, at 
times, sufficient to produce a low hum. 
The moths probably mate very soon after 
emergence, tho no direct observations have 
been made upon this point. However, fe¬ 
males only one and one-half hours old were 
killed and their ovaries examined. It was 
found that, at this time, fully two-thirds of 
the eggs were of full size and well down in 
the oviducts, tho not packed closely, as was 
found to be the case in the older moths. The 
eggs had the appearance of being ready for 
deposition. 
Mating takes place at night, as would nat¬ 
urally be expected from the nocturnal hab¬ 
its of the species. In one cage a pair of 
moths were observed in coitu early in the 
morning, but this was no doubt an abnor¬ 
mal condition, as the female died in a short 
time. Another case was observed where 
the moths were in coitu from 7 p. m. till 
10:30 p. m. The next morning no eggs had 
been deposited, but the following night the 
female began ovipositing. This was an ex¬ 
ceptional case, as the female had been con¬ 
fined for a week after emergence before 
having the opportunity to mate. 
It would seem that the female commences 
to oviposit in a comparatively short time 
after emergence. However, in the cages, 
an average of six days elapsed between the 
time of emergence and the first egg-laying. 
This period varies with the different broods 
of the year. Oviposition usually takes 
place at night and the moths generally start 
laying the eggs soon after dark. In the 
cages they have been observed busily en¬ 
gaged in ovipositing as early as 7 p. m. 
While depositing eggs the female seems 
mindful only of the task she is performing, 
and is not easily disturbed, tho she is active, 
seemingly nervous, darting in and around the 
comb. While thus engaged the antennae 
vibrate continuously and perhaps are used 
to locate suitable crevices in which to place 
the eggs. The ovipositor is long, equal in 
length to the last two abdominal segments 
and is very slender. It is constantly mov¬ 
ing over the comb to detect a roughened 
spot wherein to deposit the egg. It thus 
has the appearance of being dragged after 
the female in her travels over the comb. 
Having found a suitable place for the 
egg, the ovipositor is spread at the tip, the 
female braces herself as tho pushing back¬ 
ward to force the ovipositor into the comb, 
and then, after a quick jerk of the abdomen, 
an egg is forced down the ovipositor to its 
destination. In many instances females have 
been observed depositing their eggs at the 
rate of one every minute for a period of 30 
minutes, and then, after a short rest, have 
continued again at the same rate. The eggs 
are always securely fastened to whatever 
object they are laid upon. The eggs are 
always laid in cavities. In the cage experi¬ 
ments this was on the side of the comb, 
often where the walls of a cell had been 
turned in. An example of this is shown 
at Plate II, b. Only one egg is deposited 
at a time, altho in working over the comb 
a female often places the eggs close to¬ 
gether. On the smaller pieces of comb, 
furnished to moths confined in cages, as 
many as seven eggs were found in a sin¬ 
gle cavity. The number of eggs actually 
deposited by one female has not been de¬ 
termined, but females which had not depos¬ 
ited eggs were killed and the eggs in their 
ovaries were counted. The largest number 
of eggs found in ovaries of a single female 
was 1,128, and the average number was 
1,014. 
In the cages, under artificial conditions, if 
comb was not supplied for the female, she 
would deposit her eggs in any rough place 
detected by her ovipositor. In many in¬ 
stances the females would refuse to oviposit 
on cappings which were furnished in some 
of the cages, but would go around the base 
of the lamp globe in which they were con¬ 
fined and fill every crevice with eggs. Some¬ 
times these eggs would be fastened on the 
outside of the glass, and in such cases the 
globe would be fastened to its resting place. 
The average time consumed in depositing 
the full quota of eggs varies with the brood 
In the first brood it is nine days, but in the 
second only seven days. During the last 
part of the egg-laying period the female 
appears to be in a great hurry, and during 
the last few days she oviposits during the 
day as well as during the night, at times 
stopping to rest. If disturbed during the 
resting periods, she vigorously resumes her 
egg-laying. The females usually die while 
ovipositing, and the last three or four eggs 
are barely extruded from the ovipositor. If 
a female is being killed or injured, she will 
attempt to oviposit even after she is unable 
to walk. 
The females will deposit their eggs even 
when they have not had the opportunity to 
mate. In all cases where the sexes were not 
properly paired, the females would finally 
oviposit, the period of oviposition being, 
however, much shorter than the natural one. 
Altho many females which did not mate 
were confined in cages, and altho they de¬ 
posited eggs, none of these unfertilized eggs 
ever hatched. It seems a fairly safe con¬ 
clusion that parthenogenesis does not occur 
with this species. 
TITE EGG. 
The egg (Plate II, b), is elliptical, meas¬ 
uring about one-fiftieth of an inch (.48 mm.) 
in length and .43 in width. The shell is 
pearly white in color and slightly rough¬ 
ened by wavy line^ running across it diag¬ 
onally at regular intervals. If the egg is 
