108 INSECT TRANSFORMATIONS. 



the Other spider; but even then she did not take to 

 them, which we attributed to the presence of the other, 

 as all spiders nourish mutual enmity. Upon remov- 

 ing the stranger, however, she showed the same indif- 

 ference to her eggs as before, and we concluded that, 

 after having lost sight of them for a short time, she 

 was no longer able to recognize them *. 



A more extraordinary method of batching eggs 

 occurs in several insects, thence termed ovo-vivipa- 

 rous, which retain the eggs within their bodies till 

 they are hatched ; and in this way they appear, like 

 larger animals, to produce young instead of eggs. We 

 do not here allude to the cochenille insects formerly 

 mentioned ; for though these cover their eggs with 

 their bodies, it is after they are laid and imbedded in 

 gossamer. Neither can these singular insects be 

 properly said to sit upon their eggs, inasmuch as the 

 mother always dies when she has finished laying. 



Tlie guffer (Blennius ovo-viviparus, Lacepede), 

 a British sea-fish, common under stones at low-water 

 mark, affords an instance of this singular mode of the 

 eggs being hatched in the body of the mother ; and it 

 is remarkable that when the young are ready to 

 appear, she leaves her usual haunts on the coast, and 

 goes fartlier out to sea, that they may be out of the 

 reach of thtir natural enemiesf. Ourcommon viper 

 {Coluber bents, Linn.) is also ovo-viviparous, as are 

 several other reptiles; though it is an exception to 

 the general rules in this class. We caught a female 

 of the nimble lizard (JLacerta agilis, Linn.) on a heath 

 near Sorn, Ayr>hire, in July, and kept it for some time 

 under a glass, where it produced six young ones ; but 

 in consequence of improper food, or of confinement, 

 they all soon died J. This lizard is said to be some- 

 times oviparous. The observations also of the elder li 



♦ J. R. f Lacepede, Poissons, ii. p, 497. J J. R. 



I 



