32 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



them distinguishing marks, which seem to trace 

 before their eyes the description which they give to 

 their fellow- voyager of objects that are either con- 

 fused or imperceptible to him. It is, therefore, to 

 acquired notions, and skill in seeing objects, rather 

 than to extent of vision, that they owe the faculty 

 of distinguishing objects at great distances. 



"We find also in all countries, and in all climates, 

 men who have extraordinary power of vision. 

 Wrangel speaks, in his 'Voyage to the Polar Seas,' 

 of a Yakoute who related having seen a great star 

 swallow little ones, and then vomit them up again. 

 That man, says Wrangel, had seen the eclipses of 

 the satellites of Jupiter. Humboldt tells, in his 

 '.Cosmos,' of a tailor in Breslau, named Schon, who 

 also had seen the satellites of Jupiter with the 

 naked eye. No examples of a greater range of 

 vision are known." — Pp. 179-1S1. 



HUNTING FOR INSECTS' EGGS. 



XT is not so very long since, when scarcely any- 

 body, even amongst entomologists, thought of 

 looking after the eggs of insects. Now and then 

 it would happen that a butterfly or moth deposited 

 these in the collecting-box or on the setting-board ; 

 and then, perhaps, they were taken care of, and the 

 young progeny fed up ; and perhaps not. And yet 

 it might naturally have suggested itself to the in- 

 quiring mind of the collector, that by sceuring the 

 eggs of the species desired, good specimens could 

 be got for the cabinet, and an addition made to the 

 individual's store of knowledge. However, an im- 

 petus has of late been given to larva-rearing, and in 

 consequence ofj that egg-hunting has become a 

 distinct branch of the various pursuits to! which 

 Lepidopterists especially have devoted themselves. 

 There is, moreover, this advantage : eggs, unlike 

 perfect insects or caterpillars, will neither fly away 

 nor crawl off, but will give the collector ample time 

 to secure them, if he goes at the right time, to the 

 right place, and examines the right plant. 



And now, too, we find microscopists putting in 

 their claim for some of these objects, and I am sure 

 entomologists will not complain ; for who can tell 

 how many of those that begin by studying these 

 eggs only on account of their colours and shapes, 

 may, after awhile, think it as well to know some- 

 thing about the objects which come out of them, and 

 thus help forward insect-science ? 



In jotting down some remarks on the best way 

 of going to work (and proceeding in the work) of 

 finding eggs of butterflies and moths, I must dis- 

 claim almost, if not all, merit for originality, and 

 acknowledge myself to be only "a gatherer and 

 disposer of other men's matters." It must be so in 

 natural history, and the sum total of the observa- 

 tions of the many, often recorded in haste, and in 



very varied styles, when digested and arranged, 

 furnish a bulk of lore, which, rightly used, facilitates 

 the labour of future students and investigators: the- 

 past enriches the present, and suggests encourage- 

 ment for the future. 



The transformations of the bulk, even of our 

 British insects, are but little known in their de- 

 tails, the chief exception being the order Lepido- 

 ptera, which, being mostly favoured by collectors, 

 has had the life-histories of its species traced out 

 in many instances, the egg being the starting-point 

 of the narrative. Very few of the eggs of indivi- 

 duals belonging to the other orders have been 

 sought out, though as some of these closely simu- 

 late those of certain moths, an occasional collector 

 brings home what he supposes to be a choice batch 

 of eggs, from which he sees "in vision" the young 

 caterpillars emerging and feeding well, and lo ! the 

 result is a party of unpleasant maggots, or else the 

 six-legged larvae of some beetle. This, however, 

 would be of little consequence to the microscopic 

 observer, whose interest centres in the shell, rather 

 than the contents. The newly-hatched larva, though 

 be it of what family it may, will be discovered also 

 to have its points of interest ; but its preservation, 

 M r ere this desired, would not be so easy as that of 

 the egg. 



No apparatus is required to be taken by the egg- 

 hunter, unless, indeed, he were to take a beating- 

 net or umbrella, in which to beat or shake the trees 

 and plants ; for there are some eggs so lightly at- 

 tached to the substance on which they are laid that 

 a jerk will bring them off; but this procedure need 

 hardly be resorted to, not being very advantageous. 

 And there is no day of the year when we might not 

 go out with at least the probability of finding some 

 eggs, though on a sharp winter's morning, when we 

 are examining trunks of trees, boughs, and twigs, 

 the fingers are apt to get so cold that the knife, if 

 needed to cut the eggs off or out, can scarcely be 

 handled. To an entomologist with a liking for the 

 dolce far niente, in the glowing heats of summer, 

 such a comparatively unenergetic pursuit may have 

 its charms, the hands need not to be tasked, the 

 eyes being called upon to take the leading part in 

 the business. Patience certainly has to be exer- 

 cised, both at the time of searching, and thereafter, 

 for not all the eggs which look promising will by- 

 and-by yield young caterpillars to the would-be 

 breeder. Two causes, beyond the collector's con- 

 trol, may have led to this : the eggs may have been 

 unfertile or barren, such being occasionally depo- 

 sited by moths in a state of nature; or they may 

 have been punctured by some small parasitic insect. 

 That this occurs sometimes, there is no doubt ; yet 

 I believe the " ichneumouization " of eggs is less 

 common than it has been conjectured to be. Eggs 

 of insects are rarely, if ever, killed by heat, cold, or 

 damp when left untouched. But of those which,. 



