HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



33 



in the hands of the entomologist, fail to produce 

 the young larvae, many are destroyed because they 

 have been placed in unfavourable circumstances, so 

 that the germ is arrested in its progress. A word 

 more upon this presently. 



As a general rule, each mother butterfly or moth 

 seeks out, for the reception of her eggs, either the 

 appropriate food for the larvae about to appear, or 

 at least a spot from whence they can very easily 

 reach this sustenance which is so indispensable. 

 Hence, as the food of caterpillars is so very various 

 in its kind, the places likely to yield eggs are varied 

 —in feet, they may turn up almost auywhere when 

 we are out in the open country. 



Dr. Knaggs remarks on the more common posi- 

 tions, that they may be sought "on the surface and 

 in the chinks of bark (frequently high upon the 

 trunk and branches), on twigs, buds, leaves, flowers, 

 and seeds of different trees and plants ; sometimes 

 on neighbouring objects, as palings, walls, rocks, 

 stones, and clods ; at others, among refuse animal 

 and vegetable matters ; now and then loosely scat- 

 tered upon the ground, or even fixed to aquatic 

 plants beneath the surface of the water." 



The propensity some species have to drop their 

 eggs at random amongst the herbage, either while 

 they are crawling rapidly up and down bushes, or 

 threading their way through the grass blades, or 

 perhaps careering through the air a few feet above 

 the ground, is one vexatious to the entomologist, 

 favourable though it may be to the continuance of 

 the particular species. As examples of this, I 

 might give the Marbled White amongst butterflies, 

 and the Oak Egger and the beautiful Yellow Under- 

 wing amongst moths. Thesedeposit eggs in flight, and 

 I believe a good number of the species belonging to 

 the Nodiia family are not at all particular as to 

 where their eggs may chance to fall, the larva: being 

 often promiscuous feeders on low plants when 

 young. Instinct, too, is sometimes at fault in the 

 parent, and I have found the eggs of the Puss-moth 

 more than once on lilac, which the larva rejects, 

 and those of the Drinker, a grass-eating caterpillar, 

 adhering to a bramble stem. Hence a beginner is 

 sometimes puzzled to find young caterpillars reject 

 what seems to be their right food. Moths, also, 

 under the influence of some infatuation, lay eggs 

 in places where the larvae must starve. Gas-lamps 

 aud other lights are attractive to moths, and about 

 these eggs are not unfrequently deposited. I have 

 also found eggs laid on palings far from the plant 

 appropriate to the larvae of the species; and as they 

 rarely travel far when very young (or if they do 

 they come to grief), their career speedily ends— only 

 born to die. 



Some moths, why we cannot tell, seem to 

 have a fancy for laying eggs on withered leaves, and 

 I have noticed these sometimes curled up ; thus 

 entombing the newly-hatched larvae. 



More eggs will certainly be found on leaves 

 during the spring and summer than on other sub- 

 stances, or at other seasons of the year. Those 

 thus deposited are likely to hatch speedily, when 

 as microscopic objects they cease to be beautiful, 

 usually. The eggs which remain longest unhatched 

 are laid in the autumn (a few even in winter), and 

 the locale most frequently is the bark of trees or 

 the twigs of bushes ; sometimes the stems of low- 

 growing perennial plants. In early spring many 

 eggs will be detected on or close to the buds. 

 Generally, when we are searching for the eggs of a 

 species which deposits them on leaves, it is better 

 to examine shrubs than trees, and those growing 

 solitary rather than in clumps. Investigating some 

 plants for eggs is very tedious work ; as, for in- 

 stance, small-leaved species, like those of the 

 genus Galium. The eye, alter a time, gets fatigued 

 and dazzled. So frequently do we iiud that the 

 moths select the under surface of leaves, that it has 

 become a practice with some collectors not to 

 examine the upper side at all. The llev. J. Greene 

 thinks that the genus Bicrumua is almost the only 

 exception to the rule. Some others do not, un- 

 frequently, however, deposit eggs on the upper 

 surface ; as, for instance, certain of the Hawk- 

 moths (Populi, Ligustri, &c.), and several of the 

 Prominents. A reading-glass or hand-magnifier has 

 been recommended as helpful to the egg-hunter, 

 especially when he has to examine leaves under a 

 deficiency of light, as in shady parts of woods. 

 Impatient persons may not like to be told that one 

 glance at a leaf or any object is rarely successful, 

 except with those of marvellous quick perceptions, 

 of whom (no doubt) there are some amongst both 

 microscopists and entomologists ; but it would 

 savour of flattery to give that character to the 

 majority. " More haste, less speed," holds good 

 here ; a careful examination of one twig will yield 

 more results than a cursory glance at half a dozen. 

 Many eggs are very much the colour of the leaves 

 or substances on which they are to be found, and 

 they are often appressed very flatly to the surface ; 

 as, for instance, those of the Brimstone Butterfly 

 and the Herald Moth : on or alongside of the 

 midrib is a favourite position ; though some female 

 moths show a manifest preference for the margins. 



The searcher must always keep in mind that eggs 

 are occasionally very imperfectly attached by gum, 

 and an agitation given to their resting-place may 

 send them off, when a hunt for them will be only a 

 loss of time, if they descend into the grass or 

 herbage ; as bad, in fact, as " looking for a needle 

 in a bottle of hay." The easiest eggs to find are 

 those which are deposited by the parent insects in 

 clusters, as those of the Cabbage and Tortoiseshell 

 Butterflies ; or amongst the Moths, those of such 

 species as the Lackey, the Gold-tail, the Tigers, the 

 Yapourers, and some of the Geometers. Mr. New- 



