DEPOSITIONS OF EGGS. 93 



lus crislatus, Ray), busily pecking- the eggs of the 

 cocci in the hedges *. 



The resemblance of these singular insects to the 

 wood-louse (Oniscus)^ which is not properly an in- 

 sect, but a crustaceous animal, may be traced farther 

 than mere external appearance ; for the body of the 

 mother, in the latter, also becomes a covering for 

 the egg, though she does not die immediately after 

 laying as the coccus does, but carries her eggs under 

 her breast in small four-valved cells. 



One of the most easily discovered depositions of 

 eggs during the winter months are those made by 

 various species of spiders, particularly that of the 

 large garden-spider {Epeira diadema), which may 

 be found in the angles of walls, in form of a ball, 

 about the size of a cherry, of beautiful yellow silk, 

 and much stronger than the common materials of 

 the same spider's geometric web. This substance 

 Reaumur endeavoured to bring into use as a substitute 

 for silk; but he was unsuccessful in procuring it in 

 quantity, owing to the ferocious habits of the spiders, 

 which devoured one another when he reared them 

 gregariously. As the eggs of spiders have usually a 

 thin soft shell, a thick warm envelope of silk is, no 

 doubt, essential to their weathering the colds of 

 winter, notwithstanding the sheltered corners where 

 they are usually placed. Some species weave these 

 little silken nests in a very elegant form. We possess 

 one of the pyriform shape of a balloon, the texture 

 of which is close and netted with diagonal meshes. 

 One, somewhat in form of a drinking-glass, is figured 

 in Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, as having 

 been found near Wandsworth, attached to the stem 

 of a rush growing in w ater. 



There was a deposition of eggs at the bottom, the 

 rest of the space being vacant. De Geer describes 

 -* J. R. 



